Compartmentalizing Work and Personal Life

Before we get into the episode, thanks to our presenting sponsor Anthropic They make Claud an AI built for the problems that take real thinking, research, strategy, planning, and making sense of a lot of moving pieces Give it a try for the next thing you can't quite stop turning over in your head Problems worth solving, get started with claud at claud. ai slash HibT. Support for today's episode comes from Square easy way for business owners to take payments, book appointments, manage staff, and keep everything running in your business without running yourself into the ground In my neighborhood, there's a shop that sells incredible locally made food breads, prepared meals, sauces, jams, all from producers within an hour's drive And they use square. And as a customer, I love the seamless payment, quick checkout and easy receipts. Square's intuitive software and hardware simplifies everything You can sell anywhere in store, online or mobile while managing inventory and tracking sales in real time. With Square, you get all the tools to run your business with none of the contracts or complexity And why wait? Now, you can get up to two hundred dollars off square hardware at square dot com slash go slash built Sq U a R e d. com slash Go slash built Run your business smarter with square. Get started today. Success is a journey, especially when it comes to your finances One of the most common obstacles in our financial journey is dealing with high interest debt It can often leave people feeling trapped. doesn't have to If you're dealing with high interest debt, there is a way forward A SoFI personal loan could consolidate all your high interest debt into one low interest monthly payment, helping you craft a roadmap to paying down your debt It even comes with no fees required, getting you a financial win right away pushing on your journey to financial success. You could even get as soon as the same day funding View your rate for a SFI personal loan at sofi. com slash GIRS. Loans originated by SofI Bank NA, member FIC Terms and conditions apply N M L S six nine, six eight nine one Fast funds term apply at sofi dot com slash GIRS. Every day, shareholders meet to discuss important matters about the companies you invest in. Now, Vanguard is making it easy to have your voice heard in those decisions. Alexa, take me to Vanguard Investor Choice. Got it. teexting you a link where you can set your proxy voting preference for your Vanguard index funds and be heard by the companies you invest in Just say, Alexa, take me to Vanguard Investor Choice and make your voice heard. Vanguard investors own shares of our index funds, which own shares of the companies they invest in, available for Vanguard index funds that participate in investor Choice, Vanguard Met Corporation distribut Hello and welcome to the Vvice Line on How I But this Lab. I'm Guy Ros. This is the place where we help try to solve your business challenges. Each week, I'm joined by a legendary founder, a former guest on the show will help me try to help you. And if you're building something and you need advice, give us a call and you just might be the next guest on the show. Our number is one eight hundred four three three one two nine eight. Leave us a one minute message that tells us about your business and the issues or questions that you'd like help with Let's get to it Joining me this week is Ronan Harari, co founder of Spinmaster, which started out as a toy company back in nineteen ninety four and has since gone on to become a multinational multim media entertainment empire Spinmaster is the company behind the mega hit franchise Paw Patrol, as well as Air hogs, Bakuon, and so many more toys, including Rubik's cubes now. Renan, it's so great to have you back on the show. great to be here guy Thanks for having me on So you were first on the show back in twenty twenty one When of course, you told me the story of Spin Master, which we will put a link to in the show notes. And I know I always say this, but it is a phenomenal episode. You've got to listen to this one. Thank you. Remember, before we get to our callers, I'd just love to get an update from you since you were last on. you were At that time, I think you'd recently transitioned from being C CEO of Spinmaster, which you've done for like twenty five years. to becoming chairman of the board. So what is your involvement with Spinmaster? these days You know, it's I'd say I spend about thirty percent of my time in the business. So managing the board and the board of directors and working on special projects One of the special projects I worked on was getting our worldwide AI studio going W right, we've built that up. So I've been busy doing that. I just finished writing a book Um So yes, I got to tell you getting, you know, it's one thing to write a book. It's another thing to like Sell a book Yeah It's like starting a business. So I almost feel like I'm back in startup mode again Yeah, which is kind of nice Tell me about the book full disclosure. I've read the manuscript It's not a traditional memoir It's sort of a how to guide, but directed toward a very specific audience. tellell us about it It's called no experxience necessary Why betting on yourself in your twenties is the best decision you'll ever make And it's really a manifesto based on my lived experience about why I think that Your twenties is the best time to start a business if you're so inclined to And I write about certain things that in your twenties that accrue to you things like everybody's rooting for you power of not knowing And then I try to help people reframe their thoughts around risk and luck and equity and control so that all the benefits from that time can accrue to them Yeah, it's a great message. And again, not to say that if you're beyond your twenties, this won't have relevance, but I think the key argument in the book is A lot of young people, they sort of they feel like they don't have any advantages, right? Because they're young, they don't they're not taken seriously. They see older people succeeding and doing all these things. But in actual fact, When you're in your twenties, you've got this insatiable hunger and energy and you can learn very quickly. You can learn new things very quickly. You're exposed to things that people in their fifties aren't exposed to. So there are massive advantages to being young and starting something young Yeah, no, exactly. But it's all about the ability to start and being brave enough to take that step and then all the things that will come your way once you've actually started on that journey. and you can't map that out tntill you actually start Awesome. Well, congrats on that. I'm sure it's a relief to have that out in the world. I want to switch gears for a second because I remember when you were on the show, one of the things we talked about was how fickle the toy business is because you're dealing with kids. You know they like something for a few months and then they move on. And the key is trying to come up with a multi genererational brand, which is like the Holy grail, reallyally hard You guys tried to do it and finally, you did succeed with Paw Patrol A lot of the things that you guys built were innovated inside Spinmaster. You created these ideas inside of the company But over time, you know, as youve grown, you've acquired some legacy brands, Echa Sketch, Rubik'scube. Melissa U Doug, a brand we actually did on the show many, many years ago, we had Melissa and Doug on the show So when you think about a company like Spinmaster, what's the balance between acquiring existing brands and really innovating from inside coming up with the ideas from within I would say you want at least a fifty fifty bllance One of the things we did was we took a lot of the earnings that we made from Pw Patrol and we bought Melissa and Doug. And the reason for that was to have even out. the ups and downs of the toy industry And Melicant Dg is a very stable. open ended play, traditional line Yeah. R. It's like wooden kitchens and kitchens and ice cream makers.. That gives us a stable, reoccurring revenue and an incredible brand of which to innovate around. And I think that's the thing that you want in the toy industry is you want those timeless brands that have high awareness among consumers, and then you want to infuse it with innovation. And that's always been our model I would say that we probably overrotated in the last few years since I I'd like to say stepped up from being CO of the company or Post sale. where we became too rigid. And so our culture was actually starting to shift, which wasn't a good thing for us And now we've leaned heavily back into innovation, ideation and then stuff that I was talking about at the beginning What can we do around AI to make sure that we're staying current because I would say that the rate of innovation is very high now. and the barriers to entry for people to enter into the toy business or children's enttertainment has gone down a lot So we have to be very, very quick as a company Yeah, you've got to be right on top of these things because because I mean It's basically a business around building hits Yeah, and keeping things going like for example, with Paw Patrol, we have our third movie coming out this August. You know, we bring out a new season every year. And within the season there's specials and there's new characters. And then with the toy line, we make sure that we keep the toy line super innovative. So we're constantly refreshing everything within franchise You know, our goals is paw forever. We started with Paw for five, Pa for ten And now we're pa forever we're going into I think our fourteenth or fifteenth season And we we're keeping stuff fresh Bernan, what do you say shouldould we take our first caller Yeah, let's do it. That'd be great. Okay, let's bring in our first caller. Wlcome to the advice Line You'reon with Ran Hari, coounder of Spinmaster Tell us your name where you're calling from and a little bit about your business, please Hi guys. I am Anne Williams. I'm calling from Nashville, Tennessee I have a business called yeararly C which is a fine jewelry brand and we specialize in solid fourteen Kat gold Banggles And these are based on a tradition that was started by my grandparents. so my grandfather gave my grandmother a gold bangle every year of marriage. Wow, awesome. Well, thanks for calling in. You're Nashville. And tell me so you sell Gold bangles, these are bracelets and is that your main product Yes. so banggals that are custom sized, which is kind of really our differentiator We really say it's to tell your story. So could be one for every year of marriage. It could be to celebrate a health journey, a promotion, you know, really, whatever speaks to you about your jewelry But we do probably about eighty percent of our sales are banggles and then we have expanded to other just everyday pieces like earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and everything tends to be Everything is solid fourteen kat gold, natural diamonds, but we really focus on that wearability factor. We want those special pieces to kind of become a part of everyday life. When did you start the business I started it in twenty sixteen. It' about ten years we're about to celebrate. Congrats. And how did you how did it come about whereere you in the business before? So no, I had no business being in the jewelry business. I was a stay at home mom at the time. I had started some other businesses.es always had an entrepreneurial spirit And this is our family tradition. So I decided that I could take a metals smmithing class and learn how to make a banggal in my garage I didn't think it was that hard. It's harder than it looks. And then just kind of naturally I had this customer base of my family. started selling them out of my garage, truly just working during nap times. Listen to a lot of how I built this in that garage And really had no plans to like start this huge business, but the marketing, the pieces, the fact that you come back every year for another Banggal, it just kind of grew from there Awesome. Tell me a little bit about how the business is doing Yes, so I'm very proud to say we did about eleven million dollars in sales last year So we have grown rapidly and then kind of hit like a stabilization period, I'd say over the last couple of years. Wow, congrats. Okay. thank you. Before we dive in a little bit further, what's your question for us Yes. so my question, if you've seen the news, cold prices have surged to historic highs in the last twelve to eighteen months. So although our order value is up, we've definitely seen a decrease in our order volume U So I'm just really trying to figure out how we adapt, you know, whether it's through product, Pricing or marketing, how we continue to serve that customer that I've been serving for ten years when our material price has just so drastically changed, especially in a short period of time f All right, Reran, I want to bring you you guys also face some challenges with things like tariffs. so you're not, you know, This is not unusual, right? This is 're going to create some challenges Thoughts, questions, ideas for Anne Yeah. so First of I just want to share that my late grandmother used to wear bangles, okay So I just want to say that when I Looking at your website, it just reminded me of my late grandmother. That's sweet. I love that. And so from a business perspective, I guess what comes to mind for me is like First of all, your geography, if you can share with us, you know Where do you sell your products? Is it just in the United States? How are your gross margins? and What are your thoughts around other materials becausecause right now you just do everything with gold, but you don't do anything with other materials. That's right. So solid fourteen kat gold has kind of always been a big part of our story. It's what the Bengals were originally made in. It's kind of a material we trust.. you know, pitched our customers because you can wear it for a lifetime We do about eighty percent of our sales online about twenty percent in person. So we have a retail show room in Nashville. We do trunk shows across the country as well And we have seen like higher AOVs, obviously in person when you're buying, we tend to see that And our margin you know, has been interesting because We have had to change things so rapidly. So we do very clear price increases with our customers when the gold market has these bumps So over you know twenty twenty to twenty twenty four, it was like, oh, maybe we have to do one. And then in the past Two years, I think we've done four price increases And we do give our customers a heads up to order Butre we're about two point two five to two and a half marking up our products. We're not having to mark them up four times like the traditional jewelry markup because we're not wholesaling So it does give a direct to consumer price. We're really Ecited about that, always and confident in that. that feels like an integral part of the business because we should, you know, if we were in that traditional markup be charging much more for the products we can sell direct. Right. And you've been able to hold your gross margins as the We have, I mean, some of our pieces, you know, we've compromised a little bit. So I would say our, you, our cost of goods on some of them, it's like forty percent to forty five percent U And like our original Bengle, which is kind of our bestseller and it's the piece that we really rely on. I'm constantly kind of pushing back like, o man, if we can just push that volume and you, keep the price like a little bit more reasonable because we're approaching that seven hundred dollars price point And that's been the hardest part, I think, is that it's shocking to a customer to be like, wait twelve months ago you told me this was, know four hundred and forty dollars and now it's six hundred and fortyll We don't really do a lot of sales, discounts, things like that. So I would say that Generally, we're holding those margins pretty strong. We have repeat customers who understand the price of gold But we've definitely lost this margin of three hundred to five hundred dollars price point customer. Part of there, I mean, obviously you don't want to compromise on the gold and the craftsmanship and the sizing and all that stuff, right But you mention that your existing repeat customers understand, right? They know that the price of gold goes up and they understand that. And so you're not I'm assuming you're not going to get like gold plated lines, right or like lower quality materials I don't know Maybe I don't know I mean, it's crossed my mind for sure. My concern is that part of, I think what makes us so special. You know, Gld Bengal is not. We did not invent it. They're sold by so many retailers I think our custom sizing and our guarantee that these pieces are solid gold is kind of what sets us apart. Yeah We're in an interesting part of the jewelry market. We're not Tiffany, nor do I ever plan to be. Now our price points are getting higher. We're doing this, you know, less volume and that feels great in some ways. but there's just that part of you that wants to continue to provide that product to everybody You know, there's c things we can't control, commommodities, we just can't control it. But what I would recommend to you is You have so many incredible things going for you. You have this incredible direct consumer relationship. You don't have to go through retail so you can keep your prices in check, which is so wonderful Your name doesn't It doesn't have the word gold in your brand. So I think you have the permission from your consumer base to do other things that are not necessarily gold. and really lean into the creativity of what else that could be. And the price may come down. You know Gold has had a reputation of coming down. It's a commodity. We don't know But it looks like from what I see, you have the permission to do other things that aren't necessarily gold in the jewelry space that people would really care for. and I would lean into that while the price remains high You know, that's an interesting idea because I initially was thinking You don't want to have gold plated stuff. But you know, actually now that and I still think that, but looking at your website, you know, like what else could you what other materials could you use? And I think maybe maybe keeping the designs, but you're offering different metals in that design. I mean, that could be interesting to see what that does because I don't think that's going to affect the qualitative sort of feel of your product line. Yeah, I think fine silver is kind of another alternative that we've had people ask about before. We do white gold, which is kind of gives the look, but it's still fourteen carat Yeah. But there are things that I consider and Yeah, that we would be able to offer at a lower price point, obviously And even in our concept yearly co of, you know, pieces like silver baby cups or you know special frames, things that you're going to go to year after year, these special milestones in your life, I think there's an opportunity there to expand Hp our customers like meet them at the place they are on those special occasions because we already have that trust and that brand loyalty you have a strong base of customers. So the question is what else can you sell those customers? And I would turn lemons into lemonade with a situation where it's like what brand new product line could you guys bring into the world different to what you're doing now that can really expand your revenue base. And so it's not necessarily just rethinking the materials within the existing product line, but it's really bring forth a whole brand new product line that's made of other materials that that maybe could be a little bit more contemporary or can conserve a slightly different market or You know, you're selling fashion at the end of the day. So it's like You know, what else can people do they want to wear for different occasions that you can provide to them Yeah, awesome. Anne Williams, the brand is called yeararly co. goodood luck. Thanks for calling in. Thank you for having me. Areciate it. Yeah, thank you. Stay with us because after the break, we'll talk to another founder working to take their business to the next level. It's after the break. I'm Guy Ross, and you're listening to the advice line right here on how I built this lab The presenting sponsor today is Anthropic, the team behind Claude I've been using Cloud when I'm prepping for interviews, and it's become one of those tools that helps me get out of the messy middle faster I could be looking at a founder's timeline, trying to understand what happened when, which early decisions mattered, what the real turning points were. and where the story actually starts And instead of just giving me a quick summary, Plot helps me work through the material and find the thread, the thing that connects where someone started to where they ended up And that's what I love about it Cod doesn't just give me answers, it helps me think through the problem and organize what I already know and get to better questions Plot is the AI for minds that don't stop at good enough. It's the collaborator that actually understands your entire workflow and thinks with you Wh whether you're debugging code at midnight or strategizing your next business move Plaud extends your thinking to tackle the problems that matter And now with coork, you can use Caod to help with the operational work that piles up too. Point it at a folder on your computer, or connect tools like Google Drive, Gmail, and Slack Describe what you need, and it can help organize files, build spreadsheets, draft reports from scattered notes, and queue up tasks so you can come back to finished work. So whether you're in deep research, prepping for a conversation, thinking through strategy, or just trying to hand off the busywork that slows everything down Claud helps you keep moving Problems worth solving, get started with clud at claud. Ai slash HibT This message is brought to you by Apple Card Aple card is designed with your iPhone and mind making it easy to get started and even easier to use. Apple Card is a no fee credit card you can apply for right from the wallet app on your iPhone. AppleCard has no annual fee, no late fees, and no foreign transaction fees. No fees, period. Every credit card should be this easy. Get started in the wallet app today subject to credit approval. Variable APRs for Apple Card range from seventeen point four nine percent to twenty seven point seven four percent based on credit worthiness rates as of january first, twenty twenty six. Existing customers can view their variable APR in the wallet app or at card. apppple. com. Apple card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA. Salt Lake City Branch Terms and more at apppplecard. com When I pull up to a gas pump to fill my car thinking about chemistry or engineering, I'm thinking about getting in, filling up and getting on with my day. And it reminds me a little bit of the founders I talk to on this show, because the best ones obsess over things their customers will never see. Tiny details, and invisible improvements, relentless iteration And not because anyone's watching, but because it makes the product better That's what the mobile brand does. It engineers fuel the same way great founders engineer their products Mobile Supreme Plus premium gas helps keep engines three times cleaner This can mean better performance and improved gas mileage peopleeople who care about what's under the hood, even if they never see it Th times cleaner compared to mobile regular gas in port fuel injected engines Actual results may vary. Visit mobilefuels. com for details. Welcome to the Vice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Ros, and today I'm taking your calls with Ronan Harrari, co founder of SpinMaster, and let's bring in our next caller. Hello Hey guys, Hi Ronan. I'm Felix Coolen. I'm calling from Martha's Vineyard where my Family runs Island B Company We're an Aiary run by three generations of my family And We produce raw honey, but our most popular product is H five. which is a moisturizer made with five ingredients all straight from the hive Well, thanks for calling in. Felix. So this is a family run Family owned be company make honey and skincare products and sell them mainly on Martha's vineyard Yeah, so predominantly on Martha's Vineyard through farmers markets and local stores. We also recently started selling online, but that's only been in the past three to four years Great, Okay, so this is started by your parents, you said? Yeah, so it started by my parents in nineteen ninety nine. I work for the business part time right now. My goal is to take it over and to grow it into something meaningful you know, I haveve been seeing this business throughout my childhood and I've always been thinking of, you know, new things to do on this side and that side. And I think that want to start a company and then you know I look and right there before my eyes is one that's small with a lot of potential. And I think that it feels right What did what are your best sellers Yeah, so the best sellers are honey, of course. The worry there is that it's not a very scalable product. You know, it's heavy, hard to ship and our production capacity is limited. Our most popular product is Hive five, which is a skin moisturizer with five ingredients from the hive, raaw honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen and royal jelly which is a proprietary formula that my Mom grreated and it is patented And's our that's about our best selling product right now And we also you know sell candles and other kind of gift oriented things, but the skincare product is kind of our bestseller there Cool, All right, lots of potential here. What's your question for us Yeah, so for twenty seven years, the businesses stayed very small and local You know, I'm I'm ready to grow it. My question is, if in our position, I guess, I'm considering focusing on a more relationship driven business to business channels like corporate gifting or weddings with bigger order sizes, or to kind of go aggressively after more of a direct to consumer route like TikTok shop trying to reach consumers directly. I want to bring in Ronan, Reran Island B company trying to figure out What kind of channels to go with to begin to scale this business? Thoughts, ideas, questions Well, first of all, Felix, nice to meet you. And looking at your products online, they look amazing And what an incredible opportunity for you to carry your parents business forward. I come from consumer products. So this is very close to what I do. So when I heard you at the beginning and you said, honey, you can't scale honey and it's not scalable type of stuff, I don't necessarily aggree with that I think everything's scalable The question is How are you going to go about doing it? There's so many people that are starting brands from scratch. based on their own personal story. And it's based on them doing innovative marketing. I'm looking at your Instagram and All the things on your Instagram didn't match up with your beautiful branding of your product Like there was there was very much a disconnect there So For me, I'd be working on social media storytelling amplification of the brand. you know, TikTok shop is great. It's a great place to go. It's certainly increasing. But the question is like, how do you tell that story and how you tell that story in a way that's going to resonate with the consumers So I'll pass it back to you Where are you on that journey and What do you want this business to be Yeah, of course. I mean, I something that kind of kicked me on this journey, eventually was actually listening to episode with Roxanne Quimby at Bird's Be's. and that really inspired me to kind of see things on a bit of a bigger scale. But also I think that we have an opportunity, you know being an apiary on Martha's Vineyard to kind of play up the more premium aspects of of the business, like for instance, Tates's cookies. I think that's one of the companies that I'd like to emulate a little bit founded in like a East coast kind of summer Hamlet area and kind of trying to tie that premium aspect into to the brand as well I think you've got a lot going for, as you say, with Martha's Vineyard, right? Be if Martha's Vineyard evokes premium, it evokes the summer quality artisanal I have a slightly different take on TikTok than Ronan. I agree that you want to really use those channels to build your story, but I wouldn't actually push selling this on Instagram right away, only because in Ronan, you may have a different view. If it if something hits on Instagram that can create operational chaos. Just let's just say, I mean it would be an amazing problem to have but a huge problem to have What's your annual revenue right now between one hundred and fifty and two hundred thousand. Okay, so one hundred and fifty, two hundred just you' still small. And if all of a sudden, you're getting endless orders, it's going to be really hard for you to handle that kind of that kind of chaos. I mean, I think you have an opportunity right now to look at things like B to B. R? I mean, you've got a really special clientele coming to Martha's Vineyard. Those are the people who are going to see your product. And this is what happened with Sunbum. Sunbum was selling in small boutiques in Hawaii And that's how it exploded over time because you had high, you know, sort of affluent customers coming bying this and then seeing it and then wanting it to be on the mainland I think that you have an opportunity for sure to try and build out a B to B business initially like corporate gifting luxury hotels, partnerships with other artisanal brands on Martha's vineyard. The best known, I think as Black Dog, probably M maybe weddings there a lot of weddings on Martha's Vineyard. I mean, I would really start there and test that out and really get your ducks in a row before you go all in on you know social media, again, it would be great, but it could also create problems Yeah, No that makes a lot of sense. And I think You know that's something that me and my parents were scared of if kind of something did come to pass where a video did blow up, you know, it still is produced by my mom. myself and my father. so it would be operational chaos. I completely understand that and building the foundation there with the corporate gifting and weddings could be an easier way to figure out how to scale operationally before going to those other channels. Bernand, any thoughts I respectively disagree with my host G. Excellent. I love that. I respectfully disagree with them. I think that First of all, it's very hard to just you know blow up on Instagram. Like today you have to be super unique, super different. You have to do a lot of work to make that happen But I just think that's where the eyeballs are and you compared yourself to Burt Be'es at the beginning, that's a big company. So the question is like, what do you want aspire to be? You know, if you want to build a five million dollar business, then you can take guys pass, but if you want to build the business its twenty million, thirty million, fifty million, one hundred million dollars. I think you gott to take a different path I'm not a big fan of the whole corporate gifting side of things because it's very it's transactional. You have it one year, it doesn't stay the next year. It comes and goes almost like the service business But you have a consumer product. So the question is like, do people love the consumer product and will they buy it and will they repeat the purchases? That's the most important thing is consuming products is repeating the purchase. And so you want to be in a place where people can actually buy it on a regular basis. So if you want to go slower to Guy's point, maybe take a bit of a different path and start to get distributors and go to the gift shows and go to the food shows and start to get your product in retail and build it out slowly. and then see whether or not you have the POS, the point of sale to support your products. Maybe you start with Martha D Vinnard and you go outwards across the East Coast, right? and then you go across the country. I would just build it chunk by chunk distributor by distributor, retail shop by retail shop. And while you're doing that, I would be building your social media story on a very consistent basis so that you can have that opportunity to blow up and and and fill the orders 's if that's what you want it to become. So maybe I'll pass back to you like what's your dream? What do you want this to be for yourself in five or ten years from now I mean, it's not a business that I'm looking to sell or, you know, I want it to continue to be a family business And I think that long term thinking is very important to me and I think it's been important to the business as a whole. So I think that U scaling at a sustainable pace that doesn't fractions between my parents and I, but also doesn't, you know grow too because I think that happens a lot with consumer brands where they grow too fast to support themselves and then it kind of crashes. And I think that So I want to avoid that at all costs. I wouldn avoid you to to have that type of thinking because I think you can you you can scale as much as you want to scale if that's what you want to do. The question is if you want to do it So I wouldn't put it out there as like that will be the limiter and the thing that that I'm nervous of happening. Yes I got to say, I like Renen's advice. I still think it's slow and steady, but I do agree. I mean, trade shows, I mean, you're going to have to really kind of hit the ground running. lookingoo at a brand like Birdbyess and sort of figuring out what your path in is is a really smart way to go about it. But there there's a lot of legwork you need to do and a lot of storytelling you need to do No that makes sense. Well, thank you both. I really appreciate the advice There's so many ideas, but it gives me a lot to think about and consider Awesome. Well, good luck Felix, the brand is called Island B Company Let us know how goes. So excited for you. Enjoy the journey again. Thank you guys All right, we're gonna take a quick break, but we'll be right back with another collar and another round of advice. Stay with us, I'm Guy Ross, and you're listening to the advice line right here on how I built this lab. were're supported by Anthropic, the team behind Claude. Prepping for an interview, there's always that moment where I'm trying to turn a pile of research into an actual conversation A foundounder's timeline, early decisions, big inflection points, old interviews, company background All of it matters. But the real work is figuring out what connects And that's where Claud has been super helpful. It helps me work through the material, organize what I already know, and find the thread the thing that turns research into better questions Claud is the AI for minds that don't stop at good enough It's the collaborator that actually understands your entire workflow and thinks with you whether you're debugging code at midnight or strategizing your next business move. Plaud extends your thinking to tackle the problems of matter. From research to strategy to the tasks that slow everything down Claod helps you stay with the work and keep moving problems worth solving Get started with Claud at claud. ai slash hibBT. They say that every day your business is late to AI, you fall two days behind. But how do you keep up when the competition is only moving faster Nets sweet next. Netsueite Next is the next huge leap in how business gets done AI is built into everything you do It automatically provides custom insights throughout your day, while AI agents work alongside you to solve problems and handle routine work And anytime you have a question about anything, Ask Just like you're having a conversation with a colleague If I needed to manage HR, commerce, inventory, CRM, financials I would use Net Suite Nxt Whether your company earns millions or even hundreds of millions, it's time for Net Sueite next where your business meets AI. first time ever, you can try NetSueite nextext for free If your revenues are at least in the seven figures, go to netsuite. Ai slash built. Built for every industry, ready for every boardroom, netsuite. Ai slash built Welcome back to the addvice Line on How I But this lab. I'm Guy Ros, and my guest today is Renen Harari, coounder of Spinmaster. and Renen, are you ready for a next call? Yeah, they'd be great. Allright, let's bring in our next call. welcome to thevice Line're with Beron Hari, founder Spinaster Tell your name where you're calling from and a little bit about your business Sure, my name is Matt Smith. I am calling from Beverly, Massachusetts and I own Wandering Sooul Beer, which is a craft beer project. as well as Hidden Path brew which is a non alcoholic Beverage brand Awesome, tell us a little bit about it Sure, so u You know, I've been in the beer industry for about fifteen years or so working for some other breweries and did a lot of home brewing. And u went through a personersal life thing in twenty seventeen, actually, my wife was full term in her pregnancy and there were complications our first daughter was stillborn You know, her name was Melody, and after that happened, I had to really stop everything I was doing. It was a formative time for me. And I had been working on a recipe for a beer of, you know five percent New England style hazy pale ale, very sessionable, drinkable beer. And I wanted to release that beer out into the world and call it Melody Maker. And with the connections I had, we sold the first batch and The store's all sold out And we did it again and the store's all sold out. And from that point, it was like, okay, I think There might be something to this So that's kind of how it started, obviously very personal And It's great great to be here, by the way. I should have led with that. Yeah. well thanks, thanks for coming on Tell me a little bit about the business. Where do you sell a beer? you've got a brewery do people go buy it there? primarily? Are they buying it in stores? Yeah, so I don't have a tap room I don't have a place for people to come drink the beer. It's basically You know, I'm brewing at several different New England area breweries and then when the beer's ready, It goes to the stores and restaurants here in Massachusetts as well as New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York And I was delivering everything myself for about seven years. And u got to the point where I just signed with a distributor because I just couldn't really manage those deliveries anymore And how give us a sense of your sales last year Yeah, last year sales were around one hundred and fifty thousand Really, my best year was COVID. twenty twenty was my best year did almost half a million in sales Everybody was just drinking at home But it's fluctuated a lot. actually shut the whole thing down at the end of twenty twenty two because I had reached a point with it where I felt like I accomplished what I wanted to. I had a legacy for my daughter and There was a lot of healing that occurred And I wanted to kind of go out on a good note So I ended the whole business and then it came back the next year. when people kept asking arere you ever going to make beer again And I woke up one day and said, if one person Asks me that today, I'm going to bring this thing back and it came back. Yeah. And before we dive in further, what's your question Basically the question is, you know, in a saturated industry, how do I maintain my identity in terms of releasing beers dedicated to concepts and people You're supposed to be fun and happy and you know what I mean And you know maintaining that identity without having it kind of swallow me whole like it did at the end of twenty twenty two Got it. So you're trying to figure out how do you run a business but you also have a separate life identity outside of that Yeah, yeah, and especially for something so personal. It's sort of a grief project. It's like where's the separation? You know what I mean Interesting interesting question. Renan. I mean A lot of founders on the show will say that it's everything, right? The businesses, their identity. you I mean, you stepped away from your business running it day to day. So you have experienced going from this being everything you do all the time. to kind of having one foot in but also being able to do other things. So what do you think? What I mean Is it it's possible to do it, right It's possible, but Matt, nice to meet you. I feel you. It's very difficult I'm just curious, well can you share with it? just like what's what's your average day like bring home the work you talk about the work, you talk about it with your? people around you, your loved ones, your family, your friends arere you able to compartmentalize Yeah, I think that that's been a challenge compartmentalizing. Every day's different. my days were spent in a van delivering beer, most days Now that I have a distributor, they're doing a lot of that work. So mostly it's selling the beer, reaching out to the beer buyers at the different stores and restaurants. Hey, we have this new beer and coming up with the new labels and the recipes, a lot of marketing type work, a lot of social media But it really varies And are you doing everything from home or do you have an office Everything is done here from home. There's an office in my home, but Yeah, yeah. I would say the first thing I would recommend you do is get an office It doesn't matter where it is, it doesn't matter what it looks like I wouldn't I wouldn't be working from home because you can't compartmentalize when when your business is in your home. And so there's something very nice about leaving the house Ticking up your coffee, meeting people along the way, going to work and interacting. and do you have employees? Do you have people that are working with you No, it's just me Is there any shared workspace that's close by Yeah, there are some places where I could go to do that for sure. I sometimes go to a coffee shop, but Yeah, would I would recommend you go to a shared workspace where people are working and that's what they're doing and they're in the business mode. And I think they'll get a lot of benefits from that in terms of like relationships, connections, understanding what other people are doing Staying current And uh That's what I do. I mean, I'm I'm a ten to six or Back in the day I go into the office, I do all my meetings. they're back to back in like thirty years I've taken like five lunches. I eat them at my desk, I do everything in the office. But then when I leave the office, I know it's my time at the end of the day And the other thing that I do is I don' talk about work tos my friends or my family. U I just don't do it. And it's just like It's just a strict rule that I have. I just I actually don't even like doing it Um, but I'm very conscious about it and not like letting it come bring it into my life And then it just creates a lot of space for other things and just lets my mind like takeake a break at the end of the day. Yeah.