Stop What You're Doing Right Now.

Hey! Happy Wednesday!

Stop reading this right now. Close this email. Go into your contacts and take a second to text somebody you're thankful for. Sure it could be your mom or dad, but try to hit somebody who wouldn't be expecting it. Short, sweet, and to the point. Make somebody's day and be honest with them about why you appreciate them.?

My good friend and mentor, Wade Garard, was on the receiving end of that text message yesterday. A few months ago we went out to breakfast when he was in town in Miami and he gave me the most interesting piece of advice. Wade said something along the lines of you do such a good job helping people, connecting, and having that first 30-minute Zoom call with others. But does the relationship ever actually progress past that??

Think about that for a second. How many times do you meet up with somebody, have a good chat and then that's it? They now just exist in your world and sure they are there when you have a question or in a pinch, but you truly haven't built a relationship with that person. We all know who that person is in our life's when their name pops up on your phone you're like WTF does he want today. Don't be that person.?

So Wade gave me the best piece of advice I've received in a long, long time. Pick five people this year who want to be a part of your network and go all-in on them. Check up on them weekly. Go out of your way to be helpful. Build a deep relationship with them and become more than just internet friends. Just five. Nothing more, nothing less. And let me tell you HOLY SHIT it's working. My inner circle is crazier than ever and it's almost comical that I'm friends with some of these people. So Wade, thank you brother.?

Speaking of gratitude I thought I'd share the story about how I got into this crazy wild west world of e-commerce. I grew up in a small farm town of Woodstock, Connecticut. For those who haven't been to the "Quiet Corner" of Connecticut, let me tell you that things like Shopify, DTC, and venture capital do not exist. The only venture capital I knew of was trying to reach into my mom's purse to steal $11 for chicken tenders and fries at the one restaurant we had in town.

As much as I loved where I grew up, I knew when I got to college at Quinnipiac University I wanted to distance myself from that world. I don't necessarily like flashy things and need a ton of money, but I knew I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in a town that took me 45 minutes to get to a movie theater and had one street light. As I pursued a film degree to try to become the next big movie director, I worked the night shift at my school cafeteria called the RAT. Why such an appetizing name for a cafeteria? No idea. But there I was four nights a week. My black Nike Air Forces, big apron, hair net, wreaking of the most disgusting french fry grease and flipping burgers in between manning the register. Let me tell you, it wasn't all that bad tho. There were some perks! Like at the end of the night I was allowed to take home a few free pizzas to my dorm, stock up on Gatorades and ice tea, and I also had the freebie hook up on the register with my little employee card. Let me tell you the number of free meals I gave out to girls I thought would go on a date with me just to never talk to me outside of that cafeteria was insane. Legit hundreds of meals down the drain.?

So a few weeks later I did what many young college kids do and I joined a fraternity. At one of my first Delta Tau Delta chapter meetings, these two older brothers, Nathan Hirsch & Connor Gillivan, went to the front of our board room and said "Does anybody want to work part-time job helping us resell things on Amazon?" At this point, I barely had an idea of what Amazon was but they described it as having the ability to work from the frat house (where some incredibly good looking girls would occasionally show up... only to find out it was to like an 8:1 guy to girl ratio) and I'd get paid more than I was at the RAT. Done, deal.?

That was the beginning of my three-year career at Portlight, an Amazon dropshipping company that specialized in selling books, children's toys and baby products. Each day I'd wake up and comb through Target.com and Lego.com listing the most popular Legos, Hasbro, and new Barbie toys on Amazon.com with a marked up value of $10-30. Since Amazon shoppers are historically lazy or unaware of price shopping back in 2015, we'd be able to sell a $100 Graco baby stroller for $145. Not only was it crazy that people would actually buy these, but we'd sell dozens a day.?My goal was to list 125 new products an hour over a 4-6 hour shift. You name it, we'd mark it up 20-30% and the company did thousands of sales a day.?

The process worked like this. My mom, Louise Meade, would purchase the Harry Potter Lego Castle for $75 on Amazon. Our virtual assistant team (they taught me so much about outsourcing and using affordable labor) would then purchase the same set on Target.com for $50 and ship it to Louise's address. She'd receive the order within 3-5 days and have no idea about the crazy markup she just paid. We'd be using different credit cards to maximize rewards and points and would pay them down as the Amazon balance hit our bank account.?

Those days at Portlight taught me so much about what has made me successful running CROSSNET. Things like running a lean ship, being frugal, managing cash flow, customer service, and doing whatever you can to turn a profit every single day were all skills I learned from those guys. I honestly don't think I'd be in e-commerce or typing this newsletter if I didn't put my hand up for that job back in 2015.?

Going back to the original concept of gratitude and building connections, I'm lucky to still call Nate & Connor friends to this day. They've now just launched a brand new business called EcomBalance that is absolutely crushing it. They noticed that most entrepreneurs fucking suck with managing their cash, bookkeeping, accounting, and doing the right things to manage their business. I know I was so guilty of this and almost ran CROSSNET into the ground a dozen times over. I'm a marketer, what the hell do I know about Quickbooks and accounting?! So they've created this company that's geared towards helping startup & midsize companies do exactly this at a super affordable rate. Nobody like's getting bent over by an accountant or firm that they can't afford, so a solution like EcomBalance just makes sense.

I told them that I was sharing the story of how we met today and they wanted to give my readers two months for free to test it out. I know I wish I would have had this back in the day. Check it out here, you got nothing to lose.?

I hope you enjoyed that story of how I got my start! It's fun to have some self-reflection sometimes and look back at all the crazy shit that got you to where you are today. Maybe you got your heart broken, got fired from some stupid ass job, or made a crazy investment that panned out. It's the little things along that way that make us who were are today.

Can you do me a favor a drop me a line back with how you got your start? I'd love to hear from you and learn a little bit more about who I'm writing to each and every week.?

Finally, a massive thank you to everyone who booked a session with me on MentorPass last week! Its an awesome feeling knowing that I can help you guys and I'd love to try to bang out at least five short calls a week. I just opened up my calendar for a few more sessions for late next week if you want to chat. Just click the link below.

Wish me luck heading on a three day white water rafting trip in Oregon this weekend! The water's going to be cold as hell, but it's going to be a sick bachelor party. Hope to see you next week <3