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Transcript

Fear Wears a Cardigan · New Era Reseller

• 0:00
  Robin Joy: 11 years is a long time to be someone you're not.
• 0:03
  Robin Joy: We went to work, we came home.
• 0:05
  Robin Joy: We were fine.
• 0:06
  Brian Olson: There is a big difference between hiding and recovering.
• 0:09
  Brian Olson: Robin Joy had a hemorrhagic stroke.
• 0:11
  Brian Olson: Hmm.
• 0:12
  Brian Olson: And in a heartbeat, the world stopped.
• 0:16
  Robin Joy: I remember lying there, knowing exactly what was happening, and not being able to do anything about it.
• 0:22
  Robin Joy: Mm.
• 0:23
  Robin Joy: That's a specific kind of terrifying.
• 0:25
  Brian Olson: If that didn't stop us, nothing gets to stop us.
• 0:29
  Robin Joy: The universe doesn't check your calendar before it sends a crisis.
• 0:32
  Robin Joy: Fear doesn't show up wear- you know, wearing a cape- Yeah … like a superhero, right?
• 0:38
  Robin Joy: No.
• 0:38
  Robin Joy: He shows up in a cardigan.
• 0:39
  Brian Olson: Oh.
• 0:40
  Robin Joy: He sits down at the kitchen table with a spreadsheet.
• 0:42
  Brian Olson: You can't put in no level effort and expect yes level results.
• 0:47
  Brian Olson: You didn't fail.
• 0:48
  Brian Olson: You just flinched.
• 0:49
  Brian Olson: Now get back up.
• 0:56
  Brian and Robin Joy: So we've all been there, right?
• 0:57
  Brian and Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 0:57
  Brian and Robin Joy: Ask me how I know.
• 0:58
  Brian and Robin Joy: Ask me how I know.
• 0:59
  Brian and Robin Joy: I stack the deck in your favor.
• 1:00
  Brian and Robin Joy: This, stack the deck in your favor.
• 1:01
  Brian and Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 1:01
  Brian and Robin Joy: That's what you say.
• 1:01
  Brian and Robin Joy: Uh-huh.
• 1:02
  Brian and Robin Joy: What can cure that?
• 1:03
  Brian and Robin Joy: Right.
• 1:03
  Brian and Robin Joy: We kind of turn it upside down.
• 1:04
  Brian and Robin Joy: We turn it upside down.
• 1:05
  Brian and Robin Joy: I love turning it upside down.
• 1:06
  Brian and Robin Joy: I know.
• 1:06
  Brian and Robin Joy: You know what cures that?
• 1:07
  Brian and Robin Joy: Ask me how I know.
• 1:07
  Brian and Robin Joy: Amazon is a logistics company.
• 1:09
  Brian and Robin Joy: Test more ASINs.
• 1:10
  Brian and Robin Joy: Go test more ASINs.
• 1:10
  Brian and Robin Joy: Test more ASINs.
• 1:12
  Brian and Robin Joy: Test more ASINs.
• 1:13
  Brian and Robin Joy: Right.
• 1:13
  Brian and Robin Joy: Test more ASINs.
• 1:14
  Brian and Robin Joy: I gotcha.
• 1:14
  Brian and Robin Joy: Let's go test more ASINs.
• 1:15
  Brian and Robin Joy: See you soon.
• 1:16
  Brian and Robin Joy: We'll see you soon.
• 1:17
  Robin Joy: So what are we gonna do today, Brian?
• 1:18
  Brian Olson: So today we're gonna cover how things got started for us.
• 1:21
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 1:22
  Brian Olson: Not only the Amazon business, but actually, um- For us … way, way back.
• 1:26
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 1:27
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 1:27
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 1:27
  Brian Olson: You wanna kick it off?
• 1:28
  Robin Joy: Yeah, I will.
• 1:29
  Robin Joy: Uh, I'm going to talk to you today about 1994.
• 1:34
  Brian Olson: Oh.
• 1:34
  Robin Joy: In 1994, I fell in love with a man that I coulda talked to all night until 3 in the morning every single night.
• 1:43
  Robin Joy: For months.
• 1:44
  Robin Joy: We talked about everything.
• 1:46
  Robin Joy: Where we'd live, what we'd build, what kind of life.
• 1:49
  Robin Joy: We had the whole thing planned before we'd had our first argument.
• 1:53
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 1:54
  Robin Joy: And of course, that came later.
• 1:55
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 1:55
  Brian Olson: And it was probably about money.
• 1:57
  Robin Joy: I don't know.
• 1:57
  Robin Joy: Probably, yeah.
• 1:58
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 1:58
  Robin Joy: We were so sure of ourselves, though, that, um… I mean, we were so sure of each other- Yeah … that we had this feeling that if we could just get started, that nothing was gonna stop us.
• 2:11
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 2:12
  Brian Olson: So we did.
• 2:13
  Brian Olson: We got started.
• 2:14
  Robin Joy: We did.
• 2:15
  Brian Olson: And we started-
• 2:15
  Robin Joy: Right away.
• 2:16
  Robin Joy: Didn't take us long … with…
• 2:17
  Brian Olson: Um, when we first met, I was already in a, an MLM.
• 2:20
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 2:21
  Brian Olson: Um, and we ended up going on to try a thousand things.
• 2:25
  Brian Olson: In fact, we are still trying things today.
• 2:27
  Robin Joy: We are.
• 2:27
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 2:28
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 2:28
  Brian Olson: Um, but we did MLMs, we did day trading, we did AdWords.
• 2:33
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 2:33
  Brian Olson: Um, we actually got deep into, um, real estate.
• 2:38
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 2:38
  Brian Olson: Fix and flips and rental properties.
• 2:39
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 2:40
  Robin Joy: Basically- A little too deep maybe, but … Yeah.
• 2:42
  Brian Olson: If we saw a way that we could potentially get ahead, then we went for it.
• 2:45
  Brian Olson: So we were, I don't know, y- basically your target demographic for every la- … late-night infomercial that has ever been played, right?
• 2:53
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 2:53
  Brian Olson: Um, and every business model seemed like it was one podcast away, even though podcasts didn't exist back then- Yeah … from becoming our entire identity.
• 3:00
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 3:01
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 3:01
  Brian Olson: So, um, that took us through about seven years.
• 3:06
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 3:06
  Brian Olson: And then Robin… Of course, we had also started our professional careers.
• 3:09
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 3:10
  Brian Olson: And so Robin was working for, um, a large insurance company, and their headquarters were in San Antonio, and so she got promotion and a relo.
• 3:18
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 3:20
  Brian Olson: So that's actually how we discovered real estate.
• 3:22
  Brian Olson: We ended up putting our current property up for rent, and we relocated.
• 3:26
  Brian Olson: And on the way down there, we read Rich Dad Poor Dad.
• 3:28
  Brian Olson: Yes.
• 3:29
  Brian Olson: And we're like, "Okay, now we're gonna get this thing figured out," right?
• 3:31
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 3:32
  Brian Olson: So we were gonna flip houses, build a portfolio, and start to really create some generational wealth.
• 3:37
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 3:38
  Brian Olson: At least that was the plan.
• 3:39
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 3:39
  Robin Joy: And for a while it worked.
• 3:40
  Brian Olson: Like, everything was, was actually good.
• 3:42
  Brian Olson: We were making good money.
• 3:43
  Brian Olson: We were making moves.
• 3:44
  Brian Olson: We felt like we were doing exactly what we said we were gonna do on those late night phone calls when we were first getting started.
• 3:50
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 3:50
  Robin Joy: That's right.
• 3:51
  Brian Olson: Um, and then we learned the meaning of a market crash.
• 3:56
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 3:57
  Robin Joy: We learned that very personally, didn't we?
• 3:58
  Brian Olson: Yes, we did.
• 4:00
  Brian Olson: And it wasn't, there was really nothing slow about it.
• 4:02
  Brian Olson: All of a sudden we turned around, um, it wasn't gentle, and it just came to a screaming halt.
• 4:07
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 4:07
  Brian Olson: And, um, yeah, market crash, not fun.
• 4:10
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 4:11
  Robin Joy: You know, and, and that was a tough time for us because, you know, it's, it's not the money.
• 4:16
  Robin Joy: Here's what nobody tells you about a failure like that.
• 4:19
  Robin Joy: Um, the money hurts, but don't get me wrong, it's, it's, it is the money.
• 4:24
  Robin Joy: Money hurts.
• 4:25
  Robin Joy: But it's not really the money that's the worst part, it's the embarrassment.
• 4:30
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 4:30
  Robin Joy: It's the humiliation.
• 4:32
  Robin Joy: It's all the I told you so, so's, the, you know, all the people you're s- who are thinking it- And even when they're too polite to say it-
• 4:40
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm … you know they're thinking it.
• 4:42
  Robin Joy: It's the phone calls you didn't make because you didn't wanna explain what happened.
• 4:47
  Robin Joy: It's the family gatherings where someone asks how you're doing and you say,"Fine" Because you're trying to hide it.
• 4:53
  Robin Joy: Fine.
• 4:53
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 4:53
  Robin Joy: I mean, we could have won an Emmy for how fine we were.
• 4:58
  Robin Joy: It's the word fi- how we delivered the word fine.
• 5:00
  Robin Joy: I'd say Oscar.
• 5:01
  Brian Olson: Like, we- Okay, an Oscar … we did way better than a daytime Emmy.
• 5:04
  Robin Joy: Yeah, okay.
• 5:04
  Robin Joy: Sorry.
• 5:04
  Brian Olson: Like, it meant an Oscar, for sure.
• 5:05
  Robin Joy: I don't know the difference.
• 5:06
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 5:07
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 5:08
  Robin Joy: But the worst part, you know, is, is looking at that person you made those promises to.
• 5:14
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 5:15
  Robin Joy: It's looking at the person that you love and the person that was with you through the whole thing, and seeing them have the exhaustion in their face, in their eyes, that you feel in your own chest.
• 5:28
  Brian Olson: I know.
• 5:29
  Brian Olson: So it was a hard time.
• 5:31
  Brian Olson: Um, and we learned a lot from that.
• 5:33
  Brian Olson: But we ended up packing up and we came back home.
• 5:36
  Brian Olson: Um, back home as in Colorado.
• 5:38
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 5:38
  Brian Olson: And, uh, we moved back, we got regular jobs.
• 5:41
  Brian Olson: We were just like, uh, gonna ho- you know, hold low profile.
• 5:44
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 5:45
  Brian Olson: And I remember one night we said, "We are done." Like, we- Yeah … we decided we're gonna like, just go, go get a job.
• 5:50
  Brian Olson: We're not gonna be the owners.
• 5:51
  Brian Olson: We're not gonna be the people- Yeah who make things happen.
• 5:54
  Brian Olson: We're just gonna be the employees.
• 5:55
  Brian Olson: We said, "We're done with all of that sort of, you know, um, excitement that was going on- Yeah … in our lives," right?
• 6:02
  Robin Joy: We let somebody else carry that burden, right?
• 6:03
  Brian Olson: And so we told each other, "Just do that." Nothing was worth that stress or the, the, um, s- the position that that put our relationship in.
• 6:13
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 6:13
  Brian Olson: That, that was not an easy thing-
• 6:14
  Robin Joy: Yeah, that was not good
• 6:14
  Brian Olson: either … to go through there, right?
• 6:15
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 6:16
  Brian Olson: So we didn't need to be the heroes or the stars.
• 6:18
  Brian Olson: We were just gonna do the day job and let our Saturday outings to Costco be the excitement in our lives.
• 6:25
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 6:25
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 6:28
  Robin Joy: So that conversation was in 2007.
• 6:31
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 6:32
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 6:32
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 6:33
  Robin Joy: For 11 years we kept that promise.
• 6:35
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 6:36
  Robin Joy: 11 years is a long time to be someone you're not.
• 6:40
  Robin Joy: We went to work, we came home.
• 6:42
  Robin Joy: We were fine.
• 6:43
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 6:43
  Robin Joy: We were, we were fine.
• 6:44
  Brian Olson: We were fine.
• 6:44
  Robin Joy: We had- We told ourselves we were fine.
• 6:46
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 6:46
  Robin Joy: We told everybody we were fine.
• 6:48
  Brian Olson: Uh-huh.
• 6:49
  Robin Joy: But you know what fine really meant?
• 6:52
  Robin Joy: We'd won the Oscar, uh, uh, for being fine- Mm-hmm … but we'd forgotten to mention that we're playing a character.
• 6:57
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 6:58
  Robin Joy: It meant we stopped asking what's possible.
• 7:02
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 7:03
  Brian Olson: At the end of the day, we kind of learned- Mm-hmm … that we were not recovering, we were hiding out.
• 7:10
  Brian Olson: And here's something that, you know, took me a long time to come to the realization of, that those 11 years- There is a big difference between hiding and recovering.
• 7:20
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 7:21
  Brian Olson: I didn't revisit that sort of, I don't wanna call it trauma, but that, that bad experience- Mm-hmm … that we had because it was, it didn't feel good, right?
• 7:29
  Brian Olson: Um, rec- so I was hiding.
• 7:31
  Brian Olson: But recovering means you'd actually work through it.
• 7:32
  Brian Olson: Go talk to somebody.
• 7:33
  Brian Olson: Figure it out for yourself.
• 7:34
  Brian Olson: You're processing it.
• 7:35
  Brian Olson: You're building back.
• 7:37
  Brian Olson: Um, hiding basically meant you're locking the door, and that's exactly what- Mm-hmm … we did, right?
• 7:42
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 7:43
  Brian Olson: And then pretending.
• 7:44
  Brian Olson: We lock that door, then we pretend the room didn't exist so much-
• 7:47
  Robin Joy: That's right… to the- We put furniture up against it.
• 7:49
  Robin Joy: We Right.
• 7:50
  Brian Olson: We didn't just lock it.
• 7:50
  Robin Joy: Hung a picture on the wall.
• 7:52
  Brian Olson: Hung a picture on the wall.
• 7:53
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 7:53
  Robin Joy: And, uh- We just pretended it didn't in, ex-
• 7:55
  Brian Olson: exist at all.
• 7:56
  Brian Olson: And we're just like, "Okay, that's a load-bearing wall.
• 7:58
  Brian Olson: Put a TV in front of it." Whatever.
• 7:59
  Brian Olson: Whatever we want there, right?
• 8:01
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 8:01
  Brian Olson: Um, and that is basically what we did for over a decade.
• 8:05
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 8:06
  Brian Olson: Um, now don't get me wrong, we actually did… We weren't sitting still.
• 8:11
  Brian Olson: Right.
• 8:11
  Brian Olson: We were working on our career, right?
• 8:13
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 8:13
  Brian Olson: Um, we went back and got more education.
• 8:15
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 8:15
  Brian Olson: We built our careers.
• 8:17
  Brian Olson: We moved along in our lives quote, successfully-
• 8:21
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm … end quote.
• 8:22
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 8:23
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 8:23
  Brian Olson: To, on most people's measurement of success, we were checking the boxes, right?
• 8:27
  Robin Joy: That's what it looked like to everybody else.
• 8:28
  Brian Olson: To the point that we bought our dream home.
• 8:30
  Robin Joy: We did.
• 8:31
  Robin Joy: A rancher with a full basement.
• 8:33
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 8:33
  Brian Olson: Like, we couldn't have, we couldn't… The only way that house could've been better is if the basement were a walk-out.
• 8:37
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 8:37
  Robin Joy: But, uh, otherwise, it was an awesome house.
• 8:39
  Robin Joy: It was a great house.
• 8:39
  Brian Olson: I mean, it's like a 4,000 square foot house.
• 8:41
  Robin Joy: We had a pool table and-
• 8:42
  Brian Olson: Plenty of room for guests and grandkids.
• 8:44
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 8:44
  Brian Olson: Pool table, poker table.
• 8:45
  Brian Olson: Um, it was-
• 8:46
  Robin Joy: Yeah … perfect for us.
• 8:47
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 8:48
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 8:48
  Brian Olson: And our family.
• 8:49
  Robin Joy: It w- it was a great house.
• 8:50
  Brian Olson: It was actually the kinda thing that we had always dreamed of.
• 8:52
  Brian Olson: Going back to when we were l- dream, you know, dream building in the magazines-
• 8:55
  Robin Joy: Yeah, yeah
• 8:56
  Brian Olson: uh, back when we first got married, right?
• 8:57
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 8:58
  Brian Olson: But really, that, um… Yeah, to the outside, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that looked good, right?
• 9:06
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 9:06
  Brian Olson: It looked like, ah, we've gotten there.
• 9:08
  Brian Olson: You know, uh, as far as any of our family and friends knew, we were rich and sophisticated.
• 9:12
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 9:13
  Brian Olson: Um, they thought that we had no worries whatsoever, right?
• 9:15
  Robin Joy: No worries.
• 9:16
  Robin Joy: And they weren't exactly wrong.
• 9:17
  Brian Olson: They just didn't see what we were missing inside.
• 9:20
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 9:20
  Brian Olson: That feeling of being alive, right?
• 9:23
  Brian Olson: That thing that being an entrepreneur gives you.
• 9:27
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 9:27
  Brian Olson: That spark and the fire, that sense that you're building something that actually matters for you and for other people.
• 9:33
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 9:33
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 9:33
  Brian Olson: We were missing it, and that was eating at both of us.
• 9:36
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 9:36
  Robin Joy: It, it, it was kinda eating at us.
• 9:38
  Robin Joy: We finally decided to dive back in, though.
• 9:40
  Brian Olson: Uh-huh.
• 9:41
  Robin Joy: Because it was eating at us, we finally, and through some things that happened, we decided that we're not done yet.
• 9:48
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 9:49
  Robin Joy: We knew we had to make a move, a real one.
• 9:52
  Robin Joy: Not a half step, not a let's see what happens.
• 9:54
  Robin Joy: Like, we sold our dream home.
• 9:57
  Brian Olson: Well, 'cause we don't do anything halfway.
• 9:58
  Robin Joy: We did not.
• 10:00
  Robin Joy: If we're gonna fail, we're gonna dive all the way in.
• 10:02
  Brian Olson: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:03
  Robin Joy: It was standing… That dream house, though, we sold it 'cause it was a- standing in the way of our creativity.
• 10:08
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 10:09
  Robin Joy: It was a monument to arrival, and we had not finished having beginnings yet.
• 10:13
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 10:14
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 10:14
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 10:15
  Robin Joy: And I stood in that empty house on the last day, and I said goodbye.
• 10:22
  Robin Joy: But then I realized standing there, I wasn't saying goodbye to a house, I was just closing a chapter.
• 10:29
  Robin Joy: That house represented arriving, and we had got- that we had gotten there, that we were done.
• 10:36
  Robin Joy: There was nowhere else to go, and that's exactly what it felt like, like we had stopped.
• 10:40
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 10:41
  Robin Joy: Like we'd accepted that this was the ceiling.
• 10:43
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 10:44
  Brian Olson: Not fun.
• 10:45
  Robin Joy: But we weren't done.
• 10:47
  Robin Joy: We had stopped short of what we really wanted.
• 10:49
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 10:50
  Robin Joy: The thing we talked about on those late night phone calls back in 1994-
• 10:54
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm … we hadn't gotten there yet.
• 10:56
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 10:56
  Robin Joy: We'd just gotten comfortable.
• 10:57
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 10:58
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 10:58
  Robin Joy: We had that moment when we had to admit, you know, really admit, that we were gonna start again.
• 11:07
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 11:08
  Brian Olson: And then doors started opening up for us again.
• 11:10
  Brian Olson: It's funny how that works.
• 11:11
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 11:12
  Robin Joy: We had to decide first and then the doors opened.
• 11:15
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm, and then they closed.
• 11:16
  Robin Joy: But- Yeah … I digress.
• 11:19
  Brian Olson: So we sold our dream home, and we moved to an apartment.
• 11:23
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 11:23
  Brian Olson: In another city.
• 11:25
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 11:25
  Brian Olson: Because I was making this commute.
• 11:27
  Brian Olson: And I had all this drive time, and I'm like, "Well, the way, if we're gonna start this other adventure, I need some time back," 'cause I was spending three hours a day on the road.
• 11:35
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 11:35
  Brian Olson: I need that three hours back.
• 11:37
  Brian Olson: So yeah, from our dream home to an apartment.
• 11:40
  Robin Joy: Now, it was a really nice apartment- Yeah, it w- … don't get me wrong, right?
• 11:42
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 11:42
  Brian Olson: Um, and it was the first time in a long time that we also shared a wall with a guy, who apparently played the drums- Mm-hmm … um, at 11 o'clock at night.
• 11:51
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 11:51
  Brian Olson: On weeknights.
• 11:53
  Robin Joy: Yes, that's true.
• 11:55
  Brian Olson: Uh, yeah, so that was fun and interesting.
• 11:58
  Brian Olson: And we didn't really have a major plan, a set plan.
• 12:01
  Brian Olson: We had a direction.
• 12:02
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 12:02
  Brian Olson: And-
• 12:03
  Robin Joy: Sometimes that's all you get.
• 12:04
  Brian Olson: Yeah, sometimes that's enough.
• 12:06
  Brian Olson: It gets you off of the starting line.
• 12:08
  Brian Olson: And so- Mm-hmm … you either move with what you've got, or you stay where you are, and we chose to go ahead and move, and start this Amazon reselling business.
• 12:15
  Robin Joy: We did.
• 12:16
  Robin Joy: Yep.
• 12:17
  Robin Joy: We decided to do this.
• 12:19
  Robin Joy: Now, now think about this.
• 12:21
  Robin Joy: I know you're gonna relate to this.
• 12:23
  Robin Joy: Have you ever noticed that that moment when you finally decide that you're going to commit- Hmm … really commit, you're gonna move heaven and earth, move everything out of the way, and you're gonna go right down the road that you plan.
• 12:38
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 12:38
  Robin Joy: Do you ever notice when that happens, that the universe decides to check your resolve?
• 12:42
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 12:43
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 12:43
  Robin Joy: You set up your life.
• 12:44
  Robin Joy: You make all these hard calls.
• 12:45
  Robin Joy: You sell the house.
• 12:46
  Robin Joy: You change everything.
• 12:48
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 12:48
  Robin Joy: And you finally ca- say, "Okay, this time, this time we're gonna go for it."
• 12:52
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 12:53
  Robin Joy: And the universe lets you get all set up.
• 12:56
  Robin Joy: It lets you get all ready.
• 12:58
  Robin Joy: It lets you feel that spark again.
• 13:01
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 13:02
  Brian Olson: And then?
• 13:03
  Robin Joy: And then…
• 13:05
  Brian Olson: After that 11-year pause, after selling the house, after changing everything in our lives to make this work, this being the Amazon business, Robin Joy had a hemorrhagic stroke.
• 13:15
  Brian Olson: Hmm.
• 13:16
  Brian Olson: And in a heartbeat, the world stopped I, I want you to think about the last time that you were genuinely scared.
• 13:25
  Brian Olson: You know, that's the way I felt.
• 13:26
  Brian Olson: I was scared.
• 13:28
  Brian Olson: I don't mean as, like, startled or someone tricked you or played a prank on you, whatever, or nervous.
• 13:32
  Brian Olson: I mean, I'm talking about the kind where your body knows, like, deep in your soul before your brain does that something is horribly wrong, and that's where I was.
• 13:41
  Brian Olson: So s- everything we'd just set in motion, every plan, every decision that we'd made to build something that mattered, gone.
• 13:48
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 13:48
  Brian Olson: Just like that, right?
• 13:50
  Brian Olson: Not paused.
• 13:51
  Robin Joy: Not as… Faster than the whole real estate thing, by the way.
• 13:54
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 13:54
  Brian Olson: Like, bang, it happens, right?
• 13:55
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 13:56
  Brian Olson: 'Cause the only thing that mattered in that moment was the look in Robin's eye.
• 14:00
  Brian Olson: I mean, she was in there and she could hear me, but she couldn't respond.
• 14:04
  Brian Olson: She couldn't tell me that she was okay, and I'm the consummate fixer- of our relationship, right?
• 14:11
  Brian Olson: And I remember standing in that hospital looking at this amazing woman- And she couldn't talk, and she couldn't move her left side, and I couldn't fix it, and there was n- there wasn't anything I could do.
• 14:27
  Robin Joy: I remember lying there, knowing exactly what was happening, and not being able to do anything about it.
• 14:33
  Robin Joy: Mm.
• 14:34
  Robin Joy: That's a specific kind of terrifying.
• 14:36
  Brian Olson: Mm.
• 14:37
  Robin Joy: You're not unconscious.
• 14:38
  Robin Joy: You're not unaware.
• 14:39
  Robin Joy: You're just kind of locked out of your own body, and all I could think was, "We just sold the house."
• 14:50
  Brian Olson: Well, that was 100% not part of the plan.
• 14:54
  Robin Joy: No.
• 14:55
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 14:55
  Brian Olson: Um, and there's no framework for something… when something like that happens.
• 14:59
  Brian Olson: "Oh, your wife has a stroke." You know, you don't plan for that.
• 15:02
  Robin Joy: No.
• 15:03
  Brian Olson: Um, there's no system for watching someone that you love get wheeled away and not knowing what's gonna happen next.
• 15:10
  Brian Olson: But I will tell you something that we learned standing on this side of that, right?
• 15:15
  Brian Olson: If that didn't stop us, nothing gets to stop us.
• 15:19
  Brian Olson: That's right.
• 15:21
  Robin Joy: The universe asked if we were sure.
• 15:23
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 15:23
  Robin Joy: Got it all set up, and then the universe was like, "Are you sure?" And we answered.
• 15:28
  Robin Joy: We did.
• 15:29
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 15:29
  Brian Olson: We're both still here.
• 15:30
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 15:30
  Brian Olson: We're both still building, and we're both sitting here right today making this podcast.
• 15:36
  Brian Olson: That's right.
• 15:38
  Robin Joy: What happened to us, that wasn't unusual.
• 15:40
  Robin Joy: Mm.
• 15:40
  Robin Joy: That's life.
• 15:41
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 15:41
  Robin Joy: I mean, this is what we understand, too.
• 15:44
  Robin Joy: Someone you love is going to get sick.
• 15:46
  Robin Joy: A parent is going to pass.
• 15:47
  Robin Joy: Your kid's going to need you.
• 15:49
  Robin Joy: Your finances are gonna blow up.
• 15:52
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 15:52
  Robin Joy: Something is going to happen, not because you started a business, but because you're alive and in this world.
• 15:58
  Robin Joy: The universe doesn't check your calendar before it sends a crisis.
• 16:01
  Robin Joy: It doesn't say, "Oh.
• 16:02
  Robin Joy: Oh, wait, wait, wait.
• 16:03
  Robin Joy: They just started a business.
• 16:04
  Robin Joy: Let's give them a minute."
• 16:05
  Brian Olson: I, I know.
• 16:05
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 16:05
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 16:05
  Robin Joy: No, it doesn't do that.
• 16:06
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 16:07
  Brian Olson: Well, we've coached hundreds.
• 16:09
  Brian Olson: I'm… I, I… It's a safe estimate to say at least a thousand people- Mm-hmm … by today.
• 16:15
  Brian Olson: Um, and this pattern shows up so stinking often that it's basically predictable.
• 16:21
  Brian Olson: Someone will start working with us.
• 16:23
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 16:23
  Brian Olson: They get fired up.
• 16:24
  Brian Olson: They've made the commitment.
• 16:26
  Brian Olson: They got coaching.
• 16:27
  Brian Olson: They're launching their business.
• 16:28
  Brian Olson: They get their first shipment going in.
• 16:30
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 16:30
  Brian Olson: Everything feels like it's clicking, and then-
• 16:33
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm …
• 16:33
  Brian Olson: just like what happened to us, you know, a parent passes away Um, or they get a health scare.
• 16:39
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 16:40
  Brian Olson: Or an opportunity comes up for a family member that means they have to up, you know, uproot and re- you know, go, move across the world or something like that, right?
• 16:47
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 16:48
  Brian Olson: Or their spouse loses a job, or they lose a job, or their kid needs them in a way that they didn't expect.
• 16:53
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 16:53
  Brian Olson: And it happens over and over, and it's not their fault, right?
• 16:58
  Robin Joy: It's not their fault at all.
• 16:59
  Robin Joy: No.
• 16:59
  Robin Joy: No, no.
• 16:59
  Brian Olson: Life just walks in and says, "Oh, yeah, I, I don't believe you.
• 17:03
  Brian Olson: Are you sure?" Yeah.
• 17:04
  Brian Olson: And, and it, and it doesn't mean that you have to keep going.
• 17:07
  Brian Olson: Sometimes you do press pause, and that's the right call.
• 17:09
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 17:10
  Brian Olson: I mean, but these things were always gonna happen, whether you started this business or not.
• 17:15
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 17:15
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 17:16
  Brian Olson: Your parent was still gonna pass.
• 17:18
  Brian Olson: Your health was still gonna be tested.
• 17:20
  Brian Olson: Mm.
• 17:20
  Brian Olson: Your kid was still gonna have a soccer game on the same day as that webinar that you wanted to go to.
• 17:24
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 17:24
  Robin Joy: Every time.
• 17:25
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 17:25
  Robin Joy: And your dog was still gonna eat something that cost you 800 bucks at the vet, right, as an emergency.
• 17:32
  Robin Joy: Ask us how we know.
• 17:33
  Brian Olson: Ask us how we know.
• 17:35
  Brian Olson: So the question isn't whether life is going to interrupt, because it will.
• 17:38
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 17:39
  Brian Olson: No doubt about it.
• 17:40
  Brian Olson: Plan for it.
• 17:41
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 17:41
  Brian Olson: You just don't know what exactly it's gonna be.
• 17:43
  Brian Olson: But the question is whether you decide that the interruption means the business is over, or whether you decide that it's a pause, and you come back to it later.
• 17:51
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 17:52
  Robin Joy: So I want you to ask yourself something.
• 17:55
  Robin Joy: What is the thing that's standing between you and the version of business that you actually want?
• 18:01
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 18:01
  Robin Joy: Because I want… I, I promise you, whatever it is, we've heard a version of it.
• 18:08
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 18:08
  Robin Joy: We've lived a version of it.
• 18:09
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 18:10
  Robin Joy: We have it all figured out.
• 18:11
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 18:11
  Robin Joy: We're here because we kept going anyway.
• 18:13
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 18:14
  Robin Joy: I guess we're just stubborn.
• 18:15
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 18:16
  Robin Joy: But that's our whole secret, and you can have it.
• 18:18
  Brian Olson: Yeah, free.
• 18:18
  Robin Joy: Just kept going anyway.
• 18:21
  Robin Joy: That's the secret.
• 18:21
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 18:23
  Robin Joy: Now, some of you are hearing our story and thinking, "Okay, I get it.
• 18:26
  Robin Joy: You've had a rough time." Mm-hmm.
• 18:27
  Robin Joy: "You've been through a lot."
• 18:28
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 18:29
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 18:30
  Robin Joy: But we're telling our story because we know that some of you are living some version of this right now.
• 18:35
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 18:36
  Robin Joy: There was something specific that kept us stuck for 11 years, and it's the same thing that's keeping some of you stuck right now.
• 18:42
  Robin Joy: It's not money, it's not time, and it's not talent.
• 18:46
  Robin Joy: It's not fear.
• 18:48
  Robin Joy: We know fear well though, don't we?
• 18:50
  Robin Joy: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:50
  Robin Joy: Yeah, fear has been with us our whole lives.
• 18:53
  Brian Olson: Fear's been really present here in the last few weeks too.
• 18:56
  Robin Joy: True.
• 18:57
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 18:57
  Robin Joy: And it's not dramatic.
• 18:59
  Robin Joy: Hmm.
• 18:59
  Robin Joy: Fear doesn't show up wear- you know, wearing a cape- Yeah … like a superhero, right?
• 19:04
  Robin Joy: No.
• 19:05
  Robin Joy: He shows up in a cardigan.
• 19:06
  Brian Olson: Oh.
• 19:06
  Robin Joy: He sits down at the kitchen table with a spreadsheet.
• 19:09
  Brian Olson: Uh-huh.
• 19:11
  Brian Olson: Uh-huh, okay.
• 19:12
  Brian Olson: Say more.
• 19:13
  Robin Joy: "Have you thought about what happens if this doesn't work?" he says.
• 19:16
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 19:16
  Robin Joy: This is what he's saying, "Have you run the numbers?
• 19:19
  Robin Joy: Have you run the downside scenario?"
• 19:21
  Brian Olson: Oh, yes.
• 19:21
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 19:22
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 19:22
  Robin Joy: "Have you… Well, you know, I've done the math." And, and you know, he's very reasonable when he says it.
• 19:28
  Robin Joy: Of course, yeah.
• 19:28
  Robin Joy: He's not… He has charts, he has math.
• 19:31
  Robin Joy: He has all the things that convince you, right?
• 19:34
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 19:34
  Robin Joy: It's a bad idea every single time.
• 19:38
  Robin Joy: Fear is just the opening act, though.
• 19:41
  Robin Joy: We know this happens.
• 19:42
  Robin Joy: Fear does this to us.
• 19:43
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 19:43
  Robin Joy: But that's just the opening act.
• 19:45
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 19:45
  Robin Joy: The headliner is something else.
• 19:49
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 19:50
  Brian Olson: So we've spent a lot of time trying to figure out why people stall out, not just in life, but specifically in business.
• 19:59
  Brian Olson: And one of the tools that helped us understand it was something that we built.
• 20:03
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 20:04
  Brian Olson: Um, we built a simulator, a flight simulator for Amazon FBA.
• 20:09
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 20:10
  Brian Olson: It's a kind of a flight simulator for Amazon arbitrage, right?
• 20:13
  Brian Olson: A tool, um, that can project what happens week by week-
• 20:16
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm
• 20:17
  Brian Olson: when you're building an Amazon business.
• 20:19
  Brian Olson: And I found something that surprised me.
• 20:21
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 20:24
  Brian Olson: You ready for it?
• 20:25
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 20:25
  Brian Olson: The surprise?
• 20:26
  Robin Joy: I'm ready.
• 20:26
  Robin Joy: No matter what I did-
• 20:27
  Brian Olson: Yeah … no matter how- Every time … perfectly I set up the inputs- Mm-hmm … for, for the simulation, right?
• 20:33
  Brian Olson: There was always this point, usually between weeks 7 and 10 to 12, somewhere in that range, where the math broke.
• 20:41
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 20:42
  Brian Olson: So your, your return, your capital, has not come back yet, right?
• 20:47
  Brian Olson: The profit isn't in your account yet, but your next shipment is due to go out- Mm-hmm … today or yesterday, right?
• 20:54
  Robin Joy: Yes, yes.
• 20:55
  Brian Olson: Your next batch of test ASINs needs to get out the door if you're gonna keep this train moving.
• 21:00
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 21:00
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 21:00
  Brian Olson: Your replenishments, too.
• 21:01
  Brian Olson: You need to restock.
• 21:03
  Robin Joy: Amazon doesn't care that you're having a cash flow crunch.
• 21:05
  Robin Joy: No.
• 21:06
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 21:06
  Robin Joy: They don't.
• 21:06
  Robin Joy: Amazon wants its shipment.
• 21:08
  Robin Joy: When we say feed the beast, I mean the beast is hungry, right?
• 21:11
  Robin Joy: That's right.
• 21:12
  Brian Olson: So-
• 21:12
  Robin Joy: This, and this happens.
• 21:14
  Robin Joy: We see it all the time.
• 21:15
  Brian Olson: We see it time and time again, right?
• 21:16
  Robin Joy: It's not anything anybody did wrong.
• 21:18
  Brian Olson: Um, but now you've got a decision to make.
• 21:20
  Robin Joy: Do you skip a shipment?
• 21:21
  Brian Olson: Do you hold back on your tests?
• 21:23
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 21:23
  Brian Olson: Do you slow down in general, right?
• 21:25
  Brian Olson: And there's this thing that, uh, we've started trying to warn people about-
• 21:29
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm … right?
• 21:30
  Brian Olson: Money sitting- is money not earning.
• 21:34
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 21:35
  Brian Olson: So every dollar that isn't deployed is a dollar that's not working for you.
• 21:39
  Brian Olson: But when you look at your account, and you see a number that's a lot smaller than the one that you started with, and your brain doesn't think about return on investment- Mm … right?
• 21:46
  Brian Olson: It's thinking-
• 21:46
  Robin Joy: … "Where's my money?" Yeah.
• 21:48
  Brian Olson: "I started with this much, you know, X dollars, and now, uh, you know, there's basically nothing left.
• 21:53
  Brian Olson: Where is my Amazon Pay?
• 21:54
  Brian Olson: What the heck happened here?"
• 21:55
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 21:56
  Robin Joy: Um, and that cash crunch is 100% real, and it's not a sign that you're doing it wrong.
• 22:01
  Brian Olson: This is the gap that you have to cross.
• 22:04
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 22:04
  Brian Olson: Um, and it's supposed to be there.
• 22:06
  Brian Olson: Nobody told you it was coming, so it feels sort of like the wheels fell off.
• 22:10
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 22:10
  Brian Olson: You know, we always have this, uh, going off script a little bit.
• 22:13
  Brian Olson: Uh-oh.
• 22:13
  Brian Olson: We always have this, uh, image in our heads of Indiana Jones when he has to cross- … that chasm, and he has to- Yes … take the first step on faith, right?
• 22:21
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 22:21
  Robin Joy: Before the bridge appears.
• 22:22
  Brian Olson: So it feels like the wheels are falling off because you have to t- step out there on faith, on trust that it's gonna work.
• 22:29
  Brian Olson: And in our coaching, we actually issue a challenge at about this time to help people not miss a shipment for six weeks.
• 22:37
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 22:37
  Robin Joy: Six weeks.
• 22:38
  Robin Joy: Right, six.
• 22:39
  Brian Olson: Consecutive weeks, no matter what the account balance looks like because usually the people who push through this, that window of, you know, uncertainty are the ones who come out on the other side, not only with real data, but real momentum.
• 22:52
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 22:53
  Robin Joy: It's true, and we always say, "If you do this, we're almost definitely gonna be having a different-" Uh-oh.
• 22:59
  Brian Olson: Yeah, we are … "conversation on the other end of this." Yep.
• 23:01
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 23:01
  Robin Joy: One way or the other.
• 23:03
  Robin Joy: But, and this is one of the most common, um, calls that we get from our students- Mm-hmm … is that, when they say, "All of a sudden, sales just dropped, and I don't know what happened."
• 23:13
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 23:14
  Robin Joy: Okay?
• 23:14
  Robin Joy: So what's the first question we ask?
• 23:17
  Robin Joy: It's always the same.
• 23:18
  Robin Joy: "What happened to your process about six weeks ago?"
• 23:21
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 23:21
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 23:22
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 23:22
  Robin Joy: 'Cause that's usually gonna tell us a lot about what's going on here.
• 23:25
  Robin Joy: There's always something.
• 23:26
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 23:26
  Robin Joy: Almost every time- Yeah … there's something we can put our finger on-
• 23:29
  Brian Olson: Yeah
• 23:30
  Robin Joy: about six or so weeks ago.
• 23:32
  Robin Joy: Sometimes they pulled back on purpose.
• 23:34
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 23:34
  Robin Joy: Sometimes there was a cash crunch that made the decision for them.
• 23:38
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 23:38
  Robin Joy: Either way, the result's the same.
• 23:40
  Robin Joy: A six-week hole shows up in the numbers.
• 23:44
  Robin Joy: Or my per- personal favorite.
• 23:46
  Brian Olson: Uh-huh.
• 23:46
  Robin Joy: I decided to reorganize my prep center-
• 23:48
  Brian Olson: Oh, yes
• 23:49
  Robin Joy: which is the Amazon seller equivalent, equivalent of cleaning out your closet instead of doing your taxes, right?
• 23:55
  Brian Olson: Oh, yeah.
• 23:55
  Robin Joy: Same thing, right?
• 23:57
  Brian Olson: Well, here's what not that many people know and will actually tell you about when you're bootstrapping a business.
• 24:03
  Brian Olson: That gap is part of the process.
• 24:05
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 24:05
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 24:06
  Brian Olson: That scary week where the money hasn't really caught up to the plan, that's not a sign that you're doing it wrong.
• 24:12
  Brian Olson: No.
• 24:12
  Brian Olson: It's a sign that you are in it.
• 24:14
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 24:14
  Brian Olson: And you have to be in it, and you have to be committed.
• 24:16
  Brian Olson: But here's what happens instead.
• 24:18
  Brian Olson: You feel that gap, and instead of saying, "Well, this is temporary, I'll just make a minor adjustment and keep moving," you say, "Oh, shoot.
• 24:25
  Brian Olson: Well, if this can happen to me now, I must be doing it wrong, and I can't keep going if things like this are gonna continue to happen, so I'm just gonna save my money.
• 24:34
  Brian Olson: I'll just stop doing that," right?
• 24:35
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 24:35
  Brian Olson: And then all of a sudden you've gone from being an entrepreneur to squirrel.
• 24:39
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 24:40
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 24:40
  Brian Olson: Yes.
• 24:41
  Brian Olson: You're just gathering the acorns and burying them in the yard because winter might be coming, and the truth is winter is always coming.
• 24:48
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
• 24:48
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 24:48
  Robin Joy: But that's not a strategy.
• 24:49
  Brian Olson: That's a Disney movie about this nervous chipmunk.
• 24:52
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 24:54
  Robin Joy: And it's also funny that the instinct to save- Mm-hmm … to hoard, to hold back, it shows up everywhere.
• 25:00
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 25:01
  Robin Joy: Not just in business.
• 25:02
  Robin Joy: Some of us treat our money the same way we treat our plans.
• 25:05
  Robin Joy: We save and save and save and never deploy because something might come up.
• 25:10
  Brian Olson: I know a few people like that.
• 25:11
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 25:12
  Robin Joy: Meanwhile, the money could be working for us.
• 25:14
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 25:15
  Robin Joy: It could be out there making more money.
• 25:19
  Robin Joy: But that's not it, because we're planning for the what if it's bad scenario-
• 25:23
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm
• 25:23
  Robin Joy: … instead of planning for what if it's good.
• 25:25
  Brian Olson: The guy in the cardigan who was showing up- Yeah giving you the worst case scenario?
• 25:28
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 25:28
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 25:28
  Robin Joy: Yep.
• 25:28
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 25:28
  Brian Olson: That guy.
• 25:29
  Robin Joy: Fear.
• 25:29
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 25:30
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 25:30
  Robin Joy: We're so busy bracing for the worst that we forget to fund the best.
• 25:35
  Robin Joy: Oh, yeah.
• 25:36
  Brian Olson: And in these moments, the cash crunch, the doubt, the week where nothing makes sense, they are not on the map.
• 25:42
  Brian Olson: I mean, we're trying to- Mm-hmm … explain to you that they are on the map now, they just don't show up.
• 25:46
  Brian Olson: Like, it's not drawn in.
• 25:47
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 25:48
  Brian Olson: But they're absolutely part of the journey every single time, and that's actually how you know that you're on the journey.
• 25:55
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 25:55
  Robin Joy: Because if everything were going smoothly, you'd still be sitting on the couch-
• 26:00
  Brian Olson: Yeah … watching the football game.
• 26:01
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 26:01
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 26:02
  Brian Olson: So you didn't fail.
• 26:04
  Brian Olson: You just maybe flinched, if that was you, if we just described you.
• 26:07
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 26:08
  Brian Olson: And here's the thing about that flinch.
• 26:10
  Brian Olson: Think about the last time that you almost tripped in front of somebody.
• 26:14
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 26:14
  Brian Olson: Where you caught yourself.
• 26:15
  Brian Olson: You're like, "Ooh, that could have been bad." I never do that.
• 26:17
  Brian Olson: You know that feeling, right?
• 26:17
  Brian Olson: You're, you're like, "Oh, I'm about to embarrass myself."
• 26:19
  Robin Joy: Oh, no.
• 26:20
  Brian Olson: Um, in that split second when you're potentially on your way down, or actually do make it all the way to the ground like you did fairly recently- … right?
• 26:27
  Robin Joy: I don't know what you're talking about.
• 26:28
  Brian Olson: You have three choices, I think.
• 26:30
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 26:30
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 26:30
  Brian Olson: Number one, you can find your way out of the room and hope that nobody noticed.
• 26:34
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 26:34
  Brian Olson: Um, you can just straighten up, resume your conversation as if nothing happened, and never acknowledge it, or you can catch yourself and laugh and say, "Well, that almost happened."
• 26:43
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 26:43
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 26:44
  Robin Joy: Most of us pick one of the first two.
• 26:46
  Brian Olson: We either disappear or we pretend that it didn't happen.
• 26:51
  Brian Olson: I'm, I'm pretty good at pretending myself.
• 26:54
  Brian Olson: Um, but both of those feels that, th- the safest thing to do in the moment, but neither one gets you to where you're going.
• 27:01
  Brian Olson: Because the third option, owning it, that's the one that turns a flinch into a real-life moment, right?
• 27:08
  Brian Olson: The one that lets you keep on walking.
• 27:10
  Brian Olson: Acknowledge what happened, try to learn from it, and proceed.
• 27:15
  Brian Olson: And Robin Joy and I picked option two, just to pretend it never happened, for 11 years.
• 27:21
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 27:21
  Brian Olson: We straightened up, resumed our lives, never acknowledged the trip, and it cost us a decade.
• 27:27
  Robin Joy: More than a decade.
• 27:28
  Brian Olson: Yeah, more than a decade.
• 27:29
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 27:29
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 27:29
  Brian Olson: So if you flinch, that's okay.
• 27:31
  Brian Olson: Everybody's gonna flinch.
• 27:32
  Brian Olson: The question is, what are you gonna do next?
• 27:35
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 27:35
  Robin Joy: And let us tell you what was hard for us.
• 27:37
  Robin Joy: Building a business when you come from a job, and most of us come from jobs-
• 27:42
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm … right?
• 27:43
  Robin Joy: Most of us bootstrapped this, this business.
• 27:45
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 27:45
  Robin Joy: And we took money out of our own pockets to get started.
• 27:48
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 27:48
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 27:49
  Robin Joy: When we did that, we became two people.
• 27:52
  Robin Joy: We were the boss, and we were the employee.
• 27:54
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 27:55
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 27:56
  Robin Joy: Most of us are terrible at both of those when we're working for ourselves.
• 27:59
  Robin Joy: We're really great at it when working for somebody else.
• 28:01
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 28:02
  Robin Joy: But we're really bad employees because we don't do what we promised ourselves we'd do.
• 28:08
  Robin Joy: We phone it in.
• 28:09
  Robin Joy: We show up at our desk with coffee, and somehow it's three hours later and we've watched two YouTube videos- about label printers, compared three different , poly bag suppliers, and joined a Facebook debate about whether Keepa is worth it or not.
• 28:22
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 28:22
  Robin Joy: And, and we haven't even knocked out one task off of our list yet.
• 28:26
  Brian Olson: And we said, "I went sourcing."
• 28:28
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 28:29
  Robin Joy: Or we're bad bosses, right?
• 28:31
  Brian Olson: Oh, yeah.
• 28:32
  Robin Joy: We beat ourselves up constantly.
• 28:34
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 28:35
  Robin Joy: Every decision gets scrutinized, and every product that doesn't sell is proof that you were not cut out for this, right?
• 28:43
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 28:43
  Robin Joy: We walk around all day telling our employee self that they're doing it wrong.
• 28:47
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 28:48
  Robin Joy: Our inner boss wakes us up at 2 in the morning, we'd report a real boss if he woke us up at 2 in the morning, right?
• 28:55
  Robin Joy: We, uh, we would.
• 28:56
  Robin Joy: We'd report him to HR.
• 28:56
  Brian Olson: Uh-huh.
• 28:57
  Robin Joy: We'd never work for a boss who treated us the way we treat ourselves.
• 29:01
  Robin Joy: And we'd never keep an employee who showed up the way we sometimes show up for ourselves.
• 29:06
  Robin Joy: We'd fire that person.
• 29:07
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 29:08
  Robin Joy: And then we'd proceed to talk about them at the water fountain.
• 29:10
  Brian Olson: Oh, yes.
• 29:11
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 29:11
  Robin Joy: Yeah, that's what you do.
• 29:11
  Robin Joy: Or in the break room, right?
• 29:12
  Brian Olson: In the break room, yeah, the water cooler talk.
• 29:14
  Robin Joy: So, so how do we fix that, right?
• 29:17
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 29:17
  Robin Joy: How do we fix it?
• 29:18
  Brian Olson: Because knowing that you have a problem doesn't fix it.
• 29:21
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 29:21
  Brian Olson: At least you're aware of it.
• 29:23
  Brian Olson: So let's say that you decide that you're gonna go to the gym.
• 29:27
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 29:27
  Brian Olson: Like we s- this happens every January, right?
• 29:30
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 29:30
  Brian Olson: Actually, people probably make their resolution in Dec- in early in December.
• 29:33
  Brian Olson: They're like, "Okay, I'm gonna cut loose on my eating- … this month." Or like, yeah, from Thanks-
• 29:38
  Robin Joy: Make it count- From Thanksgiving- 'Cause January's
• 29:39
  Brian Olson: coming … through New Year's Eve, right?
• 29:41
  Brian Olson: And then on, in January 2nd, not on the 1st, um- … we're gonna start going to the gym.
• 29:46
  Robin Joy: Okay.
• 29:46
  Brian Olson: So you get up and you go to the gym, and on Monday you try out some of the Nautilus machines.
• 29:51
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 29:51
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 29:52
  Brian Olson: And then on Tuesday you, you do the treadmill and the rowing machine.
• 29:56
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 29:57
  Brian Olson: And Wednesday you come back and you try some chest dips.
• 29:59
  Brian Olson: Well, and if you've ever done chest dips, you know that's hard.
• 30:03
  Brian Olson: So, um, well, let's do a few of those, and then let's go sit in the sauna and call it a recovery day.
• 30:07
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 30:08
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 30:08
  Brian Olson: It is Wednesday.
• 30:09
  Brian Olson: I have done two and a half days of workouts.
• 30:11
  Brian Olson: Yeah, right.
• 30:11
  Robin Joy: And then Thursday you're like, "Oh, hey, yoga, that looks interesting."
• 30:15
  Brian Olson: And then Friday you're so sore from all the random stuff that you've been doing- … you spend 45 minutes on a foam roller and you call it active recovery.
• 30:25
  Brian Olson: And here's the thing, you showed up every day.
• 30:27
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 30:28
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 30:29
  Robin Joy: You were disciplined.
• 30:30
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 30:31
  Brian Olson: And your results are sporadic at best.
• 30:34
  Brian Olson: Yes.
• 30:35
  Brian Olson: Because going to the gym is not a plan.
• 30:37
  Brian Olson: Right.
• 30:38
  Brian Olson: It's a destination.
• 30:39
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 30:39
  Brian Olson: Being disciplined is not a plan.
• 30:43
  Brian Olson: You have to map your discipline to something.
• 30:46
  Robin Joy: The same thing applies to your business.
• 30:47
  Robin Joy: You say, "I'm gonna send in a shipment every week." Great.
• 30:50
  Robin Joy: What goes in that shipment?
• 30:52
  Robin Joy: How do you source what goes in that shipment?
• 30:54
  Robin Joy: Who's going to prep that shipment?
• 30:56
  Robin Joy: What's the budget for your shipment?
• 30:57
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 30:57
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 30:58
  Brian Olson: . You have to have a whole plan before you start the shipment.
• 31:00
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 31:02
  Brian Olson: Otherwise, you're just gonna be going to the gym and wandering around touching all these different machines.
• 31:07
  Brian Olson: And one of Robin's favorite sayings is, "As much as I can is not a plan."
• 31:11
  Robin Joy: That's right.
• 31:12
  Brian Olson: So make a plan.
• 31:13
  Brian Olson: As much as I can will wear you out, it will burn you out, and it makes you always feel like that you're not doing enough.
• 31:20
  Brian Olson: It never lets you mark progress, to live in the gain.
• 31:24
  Brian Olson: It never lets you feel accomplishment, because there's always more that you could've done.
• 31:29
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 31:30
  Robin Joy: There's a progression here, and most of us get it out of order.
• 31:34
  Robin Joy: First, there's the motivation, the dopamine hit.
• 31:37
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 31:37
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 31:38
  Robin Joy: You're doing something for the first time.
• 31:40
  Robin Joy: Everything's exciting.
• 31:42
  Brian Olson: It's like that first kiss.
• 31:43
  Robin Joy: That first sale.
• 31:44
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 31:44
  Robin Joy: It's like the first kiss, right?
• 31:45
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 31:46
  Robin Joy: The first shipment, the first replenishment order.
• 31:49
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 31:49
  Robin Joy: Like, it's very exciting.
• 31:51
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 31:51
  Robin Joy: You're very motivated It's electric.
• 31:55
  Robin Joy: Your first time is only your first time once though, and it is addictive, but it's hard to get back.
• 32:02
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 32:03
  Robin Joy: You spend the next six months chasing that feeling, kind of like Brian chases a sale when there's a limited edition sneaker drop.
• 32:11
  Brian Olson: Me?
• 32:11
  Robin Joy: I, uh … What is it?
• 32:12
  Robin Joy: Me?
• 32:12
  Robin Joy: When did the men- … start doing the sneakers?
• 32:15
  Robin Joy: Anyway, shoes.
• 32:17
  Brian Olson: Uh-huh.
• 32:18
  Robin Joy: But motivation fades.
• 32:19
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 32:19
  Robin Joy: It always does.
• 32:21
  Robin Joy: That's not a character flaw.
• 32:22
  Robin Joy: That's just how dopamine works.
• 32:25
  Brian Olson: Mm.
• 32:25
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 32:25
  Robin Joy: Motivation is the friend who says they're gonna help you move, and then shows up right when the pizza arrives.
• 32:30
  Robin Joy: Oh, those- Yeah … folks.
• 32:31
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 32:32
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 32:32
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 32:32
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 32:33
  Robin Joy: So you need a plan, a real one, not a vision board, not a journal entry that says, "I will be successful." I mean, you need those things too, right?
• 32:41
  Robin Joy: Sure.
• 32:41
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 32:42
  Robin Joy: But you need a plan with specifics, the boring stuff that keeps that business moving whether you're excited or not.
• 32:53
  Robin Joy: Now, I'm gonna go off script for a second.
• 32:55
  Brian Olson: Robin Joy is gonna kill me- Here we go … because, you know, I just felt her blood pressure go up a little bit- … uh, when I'm going off script.
• 33:01
  Brian Olson: But I wanna make this concrete, okay?
• 33:03
  Brian Olson: Because have a plan is easy to say and kind of hard to construct.
• 33:08
  Brian Olson: Now, you may have heard us refer to what we call the seven core competencies.
• 33:11
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 33:12
  Brian Olson: These are seven skills, high-level skills, that have to be built so that you can perform them each week in the arbitrage FBA business.
• 33:21
  Brian Olson: So I like to think of it like a fish bone diagram.
• 33:24
  Brian Olson: Yes.
• 33:24
  Brian Olson: Remember the fish bone diagrams?
• 33:25
  Robin Joy: Yes, the fish bone.
• 33:26
  Brian Olson: So down the center spine is actually your business, right?
• 33:29
  Brian Olson: The main street of your business, and coming off those spines are seven different bones.
• 33:34
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 33:34
  Brian Olson: Sourcing, shopping, prepping, shipping, pricing, replenishing, and business acumen.
• 33:39
  Brian Olson: And each one of those is like saying, "Go to the gym." Uh-huh.
• 33:43
  Brian Olson: It's a category.
• 33:44
  Brian Olson: It's not a plan yet.
• 33:46
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 33:46
  Brian Olson: So let's take sourcing as an example, right?
• 33:48
  Brian Olson: What branches off of that?
• 33:50
  Brian Olson: Where are we sourcing?
• 33:52
  Brian Olson: Are we going online or retail or wholesale?
• 33:55
  Brian Olson: What's our budget for our sourcing trip?
• 33:58
  Brian Olson: What tools are we using?
• 33:59
  Brian Olson: How many hours a week are we gonna spend doing this?
• 34:01
  Robin Joy: And the same thing with shopping, right?
• 34:04
  Brian Olson: Are we doing retail arbitrage, online arbitrage?
• 34:07
  Brian Olson: What's our criteria?
• 34:08
  Brian Olson: What's our minimum return on investment?
• 34:10
  Brian Olson: How many test products am I gonna send in each week?
• 34:13
  Brian Olson: Not as much as I can, right?
• 34:15
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 34:15
  Robin Joy: Which credit card are we gonna use?
• 34:17
  Brian Olson: Do we have a weekly spend goal that we're trying to hit?
• 34:21
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 34:21
  Brian Olson: And so each of those major bones breaks off into these smaller bones, and those become your actual plan.
• 34:27
  Brian Olson: Those are the things that we can be disciplined about, not,"I'm gonna go do some sourcing." Right?
• 34:32
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 34:33
  Brian Olson: That's like saying, "I'm going to the gym." Yep.
• 34:35
  Brian Olson: But I'm going to put 1,000 matched ASINs into my database every Thursday morning before work, or I'm gonna check my prepping supplies and restock or reorganize my prep area every Friday after work, right?
• 34:48
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 34:49
  Brian Olson: I'm gonna prep items for shipment every Saturday morning.
• 34:51
  Brian Olson: Now, when you do that, you're creating your workout program for your business.
• 34:56
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 34:56
  Brian Olson: Not wandering around the gym doing whatever machine is open, which is always that ab- adductor machine for whatever reason.
• 35:03
  Brian Olson: Like, and it…
• 35:04
  Robin Joy: Why, what is that?
• 35:05
  Brian Olson: Like, I always do that thing, and then I can't walk for three days later, right?
• 35:10
  Brian Olson: Well, we don't need all seven to be fully fleshed out on day one.
• 35:14
  Brian Olson: In fact, I would encourage you not to.
• 35:16
  Brian Olson: A lot of them don't matter when you're first starting out.
• 35:18
  Brian Olson: So start with the ones that matter the most right now.
• 35:21
  Brian Olson: But know what the bones are so that you can know what you're building toward.
• 35:27
  Robin Joy: Yeah, and he wonders why- … we always go over time on this podcast.
• 35:31
  Brian Olson: Yeah, that was just a brief off-script moment.
• 35:33
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 35:33
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 35:34
  Robin Joy: But he's right.
• 35:35
  Robin Joy: That's the framework.
• 35:36
  Robin Joy: It's generic enough that you insert your details for your business in your schedule with your approach.
• 35:43
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 35:43
  Robin Joy: And now you have something real.
• 35:45
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 35:45
  Robin Joy: Something you can be disciplined about.
• 35:47
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 35:48
  Robin Joy: A framework is not a system.
• 35:50
  Robin Joy: A framework shows you where the walls go.
• 35:52
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 35:53
  Robin Joy: It's the studs, it's not the paint color.
• 35:56
  Robin Joy: You're the one who has to pick out the paint, paint color, and some of you are going to pick a color and then hate it, and then paint over it, and that's okay.
• 36:06
  Robin Joy: That's how systems get built.
• 36:09
  Robin Joy: We create the system with our values, our experience, the things we've tried that worked, and the things we've tried that made us wanna throw our laptop- … into the river.
• 36:19
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 36:20
  Robin Joy: All of that is data.
• 36:22
  Robin Joy: All of it matters.
• 36:23
  Robin Joy: And then we need discipline, but discipline that's mapped to that plan.
• 36:28
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 36:28
  Robin Joy: Not discipline to work hard, to do as much as I can- I go to bed … discipline to do these specific things in this specific order before we do anything else.
• 36:39
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 36:39
  Robin Joy: Our non-negotiables come first.
• 36:42
  Robin Joy: Every business has a handful of things that have to happen every single week.
• 36:46
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 36:47
  Robin Joy: You decide what they are.
• 36:49
  Robin Joy: They're not glamorous, and they're not exciting.
• 36:52
  Robin Joy: They're the business equivalent of brushing your teeth.
• 36:54
  Robin Joy: Ah.
• 36:55
  Robin Joy: Nobody posts a motivational quote about brushing your teeth, but you do it every morning.
• 37:01
  Robin Joy: Well, 'cause life gets worse really fast if you don't.
• 37:04
  Robin Joy: You don't, yeah.
• 37:06
  Robin Joy: But do, do those things first, right, before you chase the next bright idea, before you listen to another podcast, before you explore a new tool.
• 37:15
  Robin Joy: The non-negotiables come first every time, and here's what you'll find.
• 37:19
  Robin Joy: The more consistently you do them, the faster they get.
• 37:22
  Robin Joy: What took you four hours in month one maybe takes you 90 minutes in month three, and now you've earned time to experiment with.
• 37:31
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 37:31
  Brian Olson: Oh, yeah.
• 37:31
  Robin Joy: You didn't steal it from the time in that work that matters.
• 37:38
  Robin Joy: That boredom you're feeling, that's the engine running.
• 37:41
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 37:41
  Robin Joy: Don't shut it off just because it's not thrilling.
• 37:45
  Brian Olson: And the more of that feeling that we had, the more successful our business actually became.
• 37:50
  Brian Olson: Let's talk about what that adjustment between employee and business owner looks like.
• 37:54
  Brian Olson: So when you are doing tasks, like sourcing, prepping, and shipping, you put on the employee hat, right?
• 38:00
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 38:00
  Brian Olson: You don't question the strategy.
• 38:01
  Brian Olson: Y- I know you do now, but I'm, my, our advice here is don't.
• 38:05
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 38:05
  Brian Olson: Just go do the task, right?
• 38:07
  Brian Olson: Don't agonize over whether the product is gonna be a home run or not.
• 38:10
  Brian Olson: Do the work, follow the process, and execute.
• 38:14
  Brian Olson: Then you take that hat off, and you put on the boss hat.
• 38:17
  Brian Olson: Okay.
• 38:17
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 38:17
  Brian Olson: And you look at the numbers, and you do your eval- your evaluations, and you make adjustments to the plan.
• 38:23
  Brian Olson: You make real decisions.
• 38:25
  Brian Olson: But do not do both at the same time.
• 38:27
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 38:27
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 38:27
  Robin Joy: You can't prep a shipment and create new rules for prepping at the same time.
• 38:30
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 38:31
  Brian Olson: I mean, you can, but, uh, nothing good usually comes from that.
• 38:35
  Robin Joy: And here's the way we made it work for us.
• 38:37
  Robin Joy: As the employee, we spent 90% of our effort on 90% of the work.
• 38:43
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 38:43
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 38:44
  Robin Joy: The stuff that has a standard answer, the stuff that doesn't need a committee meeting with yourself and a call to your CPA- Mm-hmm … and your lawyer just to get it done.
• 38:52
  Brian Olson: Uh-huh.
• 38:52
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 38:52
  Robin Joy: That stuff.
• 38:53
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 38:54
  Robin Joy: The other 10%, hand it to the boss.
• 38:56
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 38:57
  Robin Joy: Your other self that's pl- has the boss hat on.
• 39:01
  Robin Joy: We didn't tie ourselves up in the 10% and let 90% of the work not get done- Yeah … because we were tied up in it.
• 39:08
  Robin Joy: That's how most people stall out.
• 39:10
  Robin Joy: They spend all day on the hard decisions- Yep … and none of the day on the actual work.
• 39:15
  Robin Joy: It's like spending eight hours deciding what to have for dinner, and then ordering pizza anyway.
• 39:20
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 39:21
  Robin Joy: I wanna tell you about a moment that changed our business, and it happened almost by accident.
• 39:25
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 39:26
  Robin Joy: We hired someone to shop and ship for us, not because we were ready, not because we had this grand plan to scale.
• 39:33
  Robin Joy: It happened because there was an opportunity in a different part of the country, of regional stores- Mm-hmm … that we didn't have access to- Yeah… from here, so we brought someone on.
• 39:44
  Brian Olson: And that's when things started to click for us.
• 39:47
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 39:47
  Brian Olson: Like, I'm not sure I realized in that moment exactly what it was, but here's what ended up happening.
• 39:52
  Brian Olson: That person that we hired, she did not complicate or overcomplicate every single thing that she was doing, right?
• 39:58
  Brian Olson: She didn't have a 45-minute internal debate about whether to use stretch wrap or bubble wrap on this product.
• 40:03
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 40:03
  Brian Olson: She didn't have a crisis about poly bags, because we did, 'cause those things stuck to us- Yes all the time in Denver.
• 40:09
  Brian Olson: And she didn't worry about margins while she was prepping a box.
• 40:13
  Brian Olson: So she was far more efficient at that.
• 40:15
  Brian Olson: Yes.
• 40:16
  Brian Olson: Uh, she just did the work, right?
• 40:18
  Brian Olson: She did what was on the list, the instructions that we'd given her.
• 40:22
  Brian Olson: The boring part that we could never keep ourselves to, because it just was no fun, right?
• 40:27
  Robin Joy: She did it happily.
• 40:28
  Robin Joy: For money, of course.
• 40:29
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 40:30
  Brian Olson: Uh, it was very clarifying for us.
• 40:32
  Brian Olson: Now, it wasn't her that changed the business, it was really the decisions that we had to make in order to hire her that changed the business.
• 40:41
  Brian Olson: Yes.
• 40:42
  Brian Olson: When someone else is relying on you, all of a sudden, we had to define what those non-negotiables were, and what the undefined things were.
• 40:49
  Brian Olson: We had to build the SOPs.
• 40:51
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 40:52
  Brian Olson: We had to decide what level of authority that she had.
• 40:55
  Brian Olson: And we had to answer every question that we'd been avoiding, right?
• 40:58
  Brian Olson: What are our standard decisions?
• 40:59
  Brian Olson: What does done look like?
• 41:00
  Brian Olson: What gets done every week, no matter what?
• 41:03
  Brian Olson: And that's when we learned to become disciplined about our parts.
• 41:07
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 41:07
  Brian Olson: Because she was doing the shopping for us, she couldn't do her tasks until I'd done mine.
• 41:13
  Robin Joy: Right.
• 41:13
  Brian Olson: Or you had done yours.
• 41:14
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 41:15
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 41:15
  Brian Olson: I make the shopping list, you cut the paychecks.
• 41:18
  Brian Olson: Yep.
• 41:18
  Brian Olson: So those two things have to happen all the time.
• 41:20
  Brian Olson: So she actually forced us to stop overthinking and actually start deciding, making these decisions.
• 41:26
  Brian Olson: And once we made those decisions, that's when the business really started- Mm-hmm … to take off.
• 41:31
  Brian Olson: It wasn't because of her hands.
• 41:32
  Brian Olson: It wasn't because, you know, she could prep three times faster than we could.
• 41:37
  Brian Olson: Even though she could, that was true.
• 41:38
  Brian Olson: But it was because of the clarity that we gained from doing that.
• 41:41
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 41:42
  Brian Olson: The systems remove the emotion from the process, and when you remove emotion, you remove the paralysis.
• 41:49
  Brian Olson: Right.
• 41:50
  Robin Joy: And we decided a long time ago that tools are not- Mm … the boss.
• 41:54
  Brian Olson: Not the boss of us.
• 41:55
  Robin Joy: The tools are not the boss of us.
• 41:57
  Brian Olson: Mm.
• 41:57
  Robin Joy: Too many of us treat tools like they are the boss.
• 42:00
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 42:00
  Robin Joy: We buy a tool, and then we let it dictate our process.
• 42:04
  Robin Joy: We let it tell us how to run our business.
• 42:06
  Robin Joy: We change our workflow to fit the software, instead of making the software fit our workflow.
• 42:12
  Robin Joy: A tool's an employee.
• 42:14
  Robin Joy: Period.
• 42:14
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 42:15
  Robin Joy: We buy a tool to help us run our business better, in our way, using our decisions.
• 42:21
  Robin Joy: We wouldn't hire someone and then ask them to set our goals and define our process.
• 42:25
  Brian Olson: Mm.
• 42:25
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 42:26
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 42:27
  Robin Joy: We'd expect them to conform to what we've already decided, right?
• 42:31
  Robin Joy: And if they can't, well, we gotta let them go.
• 42:34
  Robin Joy: We'll go find somebody who can.
• 42:35
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 42:35
  Robin Joy: Treat your tools and services like employees, and if they're not performing, do what you do with a bad hire.
• 42:44
  Robin Joy: Don't spend six months trying to make it work- Mm-hmm just because you paid the annual plan.
• 42:48
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 42:49
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 42:49
  Robin Joy: They work for you, not the other way around.
• 42:52
  Brian Olson: You know what the difference is between people who make it and the people who don't-
• 42:56
  Robin Joy: What's the difference?
• 42:56
  Brian Olson: … in our experience?
• 42:57
  Brian Olson: It's not talent.
• 42:58
  Robin Joy: No.
• 42:59
  Robin Joy: It's not capital.
• 43:00
  Robin Joy: No.
• 43:01
  Brian Olson: And as much as connections are important, it's not even connections.
• 43:05
  Robin Joy: Hmm.
• 43:06
  Brian Olson: I remember this time back when the, the Denver Broncos, if you know us, you know we're- … we're, we're big Broncos fans.
• 43:13
  Robin Joy: Love it.
• 43:13
  Brian Olson: When they were building toward their first winning Super Bowl- Mm-hmm … they used to play this song in the locker room called Tubthumping.
• 43:20
  Robin Joy: Yes.
• 43:20
  Brian Olson: By Chumbawamba.
• 43:21
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 43:22
  Brian Olson: If you know the song where he's like, "You, I get knocked down."
• 43:25
  Robin Joy: I get knocked down, but I get up again.
• 43:26
  Robin Joy: "But I get up again.
• 43:27
  Robin Joy: You're never gonna keep me down." Yeah.
• 43:29
  Robin Joy: Not exactly Shakespeare, but, you know.
• 43:31
  Robin Joy: True.
• 43:31
  Robin Joy: But it didn't need to be Shakespeare, right?
• 43:33
  Robin Joy: They needed a refrain that they could all believe in.
• 43:36
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 43:37
  Brian Olson: Consistency's not about doing it perfectly every time.
• 43:40
  Brian Olson: Consistency is about getting it done and then doing it again.
• 43:43
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 43:43
  Brian Olson: Even when the last time didn't go the way that you wanted, maybe especially when the last time didn't go the way that you wanted.
• 43:51
  Brian Olson: Consistency, that 11-year gap that we were describing earlier, didn't exist there.
• 43:55
  Brian Olson: Right.
• 43:56
  Robin Joy: Right?
• 43:56
  Brian Olson: But consistency is showing up on Monday when Friday was a complete disaster.
• 44:00
  Brian Olson: It's the most boring superpower in the world, I promise you.
• 44:04
  Brian Olson: But if you say yes to this, okay?
• 44:07
  Brian Olson: Don't say yes with your mouth and not with your calendar.
• 44:09
  Brian Olson: Right.
• 44:10
  Robin Joy: Because that's what a lot of people do.
• 44:11
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 44:11
  Brian Olson: We see it- All the time … as coaches all the time.
• 44:13
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 44:14
  Brian Olson: People make the commitment, and then they execute like someone who didn't make-
• 44:18
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm
• 44:18
  Brian Olson: the commitment.
• 44:19
  Brian Olson: You can't put in no level effort and expect yes level results.
• 44:24
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 44:25
  Robin Joy: I mean, look, look around.
• 44:27
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 44:27
  Robin Joy: There are a lot of shiny objects.
• 44:29
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm, yeah.
• 44:31
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 44:31
  Robin Joy: A lot of great ideas.
• 44:33
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 44:33
  Robin Joy: A lot of tools and strategies and systems.
• 44:36
  Robin Joy: It's like walking into the best-equipped gym you've ever seen.
• 44:39
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 44:40
  Robin Joy: But if you try to hit every machine at once, you're not gonna do enough of any one thing to get anything done.
• 44:46
  Robin Joy: You're gonna walk out the same way you walked in.
• 44:50
  Robin Joy: Yeah.
• 44:51
  Brian Olson: So let me tell you about a story that happened when I first met Robin.
• 44:55
  Brian Olson: I invited two women to a New Year's Eve party a long, long time ago, okay?
• 45:00
  Brian Olson: And I told my friends that I was going to marry whichever one showed up.
• 45:06
  Brian Olson: Because… And the only reason I said that is 'cause I was confident that neither were gonna show up.
• 45:09
  Brian Olson: Right?
• 45:10
  Brian Olson: And I'm not sure what I would've done if both had arrived, because I hadn't planned that far ahead- … which was pretty much a theme in my life at that point, right?
• 45:18
  Brian Olson: But Robin showed up.
• 45:19
  Brian Olson: I did.
• 45:20
  Brian Olson: And we started talking.
• 45:21
  Robin Joy: Mm-hmm.
• 45:22
  Brian Olson: And we haven't stopped.
• 45:24
  Brian Olson: We talked until 3 in the morning the next night.
• 45:27
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 45:27
  Brian Olson: And then we called each other the next night and the next night, and it just kept going on and on.
• 45:31
  Brian Olson: And on one of those calls, she said something that I've never forgotten.
• 45:36
  Brian Olson: She said something like, "I don't want a small life.
• 45:39
  Brian Olson: There's gotta be more than what I've experienced in my life so far." And I know you've said that, too, and I have said that.
• 45:46
  Brian Olson: I say that all the time.
• 45:48
  Brian Olson: And that's why you're here.
• 45:49
  Brian Olson: That's why you're listening to this podcast.
• 45:51
  Robin Joy: You're gonna get knocked down.
• 45:53
  Robin Joy: That is not a possibility, that's the deal.
• 45:56
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 45:58
  Robin Joy: It's written into the contract.
• 45:59
  Robin Joy: The moment you decide you want something worth having, it's written into the contract.
• 46:04
  Robin Joy: And then you're gonna get knocked down again.
• 46:06
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm.
• 46:06
  Robin Joy: Life doesn't get impressed by the first time, okay?
• 46:09
  Robin Joy: It wants to see what you do the second time and the third time.
• 46:13
  Brian Olson: And we know- And the f- Oh.
• 46:14
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 46:14
  Brian Olson: And we know, because we got knocked down in 2007- Yes … and we didn't get back up for 11… 11 years.
• 46:21
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 46:21
  Brian Olson: 11 years.
• 46:22
  Brian Olson: And I wanna be, uh, completely transparent about what those 11 years cost us.
• 46:27
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 46:28
  Brian Olson: It wasn't the money.
• 46:29
  Robin Joy: No.
• 46:29
  Brian Olson: Okay?
• 46:30
  Brian Olson: It was the version-
• 46:31
  Robin Joy: It was a lot of money, but it could've been, potentially
• 46:33
  Brian Olson: … it, it was the version of ourselves that we were holding back from, right?
• 46:38
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 46:38
  Brian Olson: The things that we didn't build, the people that we didn't help.
• 46:42
  Brian Olson: You don't get that time back that… You just don't get that time back.
• 46:46
  Brian Olson: Nobody does.
• 46:47
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 46:47
  Robin Joy: The only time you truly fail-
• 46:50
  Brian Olson: Mm-hmm … is the time you don't get back up.
• 46:53
  Robin Joy: We did get back up, but boy, it took us a while.
• 46:57
  Robin Joy: Because everything else, everything else is just a story you're in the middle of.
• 47:02
  Robin Joy: You haven't seen the ending yet.
• 47:04
  Robin Joy: You don't get to call it a failure from the middle of the story.
• 47:08
  Robin Joy: The time you don't get back up, that's the time you quit, and the only person who decides that is you, no matter how long it's been.
• 47:18
  Brian Olson: So when it comes for you, and it will, we want you to hear this.
• 47:22
  Brian Olson: Get back up.
• 47:24
  Brian Olson: Adjust.
• 47:25
  Brian Olson: Keep going, not because it's easy, not because you feel like it, but because you are not done yet.
• 47:33
  Brian Olson: You didn't fail.
• 47:34
  Brian Olson: You just flinched.
• 47:35
  Brian Olson: Now get back up.
• 47:38
  Robin Joy: Brian, do you have a quote for us today?
• 47:40
  Brian Olson: Um, I do have a quote for us today.
• 47:44
  Brian Olson: You ready for this?
• 47:45
  Robin Joy: I'm ready.
• 47:46
  Brian Olson: Maya Angelou.
• 47:47
  Brian Olson: Yes.
• 47:47
  Brian Olson: Quote, "You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated." Mm-hmm.
• 47:53
  Brian Olson: Oh, love that one.
• 47:54
  Brian Olson: Just gives me chills.
• 47:55
  Brian Olson: Yeah.
• 47:56
  Brian Olson: That, uh, that is, that's the biggest lesson that we're trying to c- convey here is that you're gonna get knocked down and, and, uh, things are gonna go bad, and, um, you're gonna be discouraged, and y-
• 48:07
  Robin Joy: And only you can decide-
• 48:09
  Brian Olson: Mm if you're gonna get back up again.
• 48:11
  Brian Olson: If you're gonna get back up, and- No matter how long it's been … if there's any advice that we could give you, it'd be l- don't wait 11 years.
• 48:16
  Robin Joy: Don't wait 11 years.
• 48:18
  Robin Joy: Y-
• 48:18
  Brian Olson: you don't get that time back, right?
• 48:19
  Robin Joy: But even if you have- Yeah … it's still there for you, like it was for us.
• 48:23
  Brian Olson: So what do you do when you're in that cash crunch gap and you're unsure about what to do next?
• 48:28
  Robin Joy: Let's go find some more ASINs.
• 48:30
  Robin Joy: Test more ASINs?
• 48:31
  Robin Joy: Let's go test-
• 48:31
  Brian Olson: All right … some more ASINs.
• 48:32
  Robin Joy: Let's go test some more ASINs.
• 48:32
  Robin Joy: We'll talk to you soon, everybody.
• 48:33
  Robin Joy: Thanks, everybody.
• 48:33
  Robin Joy: Talk to you soon.