Throughout the conversation, John shares vulnerable insights into his journey, including the importance of creating quality content to intentionally grow a business and the value of fostering strong relationships with consumers. He candidly discusses the need for patience in the face of failure and the dangers of dependency on a single vendor or customer source. With BattlBox's thriving online community and their Netflix debut in Southern Survival, John's innovative approach to business has led to the company's recent acquisition by a Canadian "spack," making BattlBox a publicly traded powerhouse. Ready for a wild ride? Listen to episode 225 now and unlock the secrets to John Roman's unstoppable success!
Transcription from video:
on today's episode of gathering the
Kings it's a commitment and to truly
attack it and be successful with it you
have to go down that path and see a lot
of rejection and zero success and truly
have the vision
that you're doing it correctly and that
it's going to take a while you are
listening to Gathering the Kings with
Chaz wolf featuring fellow seven eight
and even nine figure business owners who
have real battle scars from business and
life but have prevailed as the king that
they are designed to be we welcome High
performing entrepreneurs to the stage in
order to reveal the real of the real on
what it takes to build a successful
business today we dissect the good and
bad decisions they've made along the way
that give a true and accurate picture of
the Journey of success and how you too
can get there through this dialogue you
will learn the value of growing your
network and surrounding yourself with
power players and Kings like today's
guest grab your pen and notebook because
we're about to dive in
what's up everybody I'm Chaz Wolf
gathering the king's podcast today I've
got John Roman here on the king stage my
brother John how we doing good good to
be here you know man I'm excited about
this conversation your brand I think is
just so fun no no worry no wonder you're
a kind of a marketing guy but uh you got
a really just awesome fun brand I'm
super interested in learning more about
your story as well but tell us what kind
of business that you have Sean sure
thank you so Battlbox is a Adventure
Outdoor survival gear brand to think
from tents and knives to fire starters
to anything under the sun when it comes
to you know getting getting in the
outdoors yeah yeah and you guys help us
prepare for all those things right from
just from just you know a day hike uh
you know hopefully knock on wood not
needed but something more more extreme
yeah yeah I love I love the the range
there that you kind of just hinted at
because there's all different types of
consumers in that in that range as well
you've got the the folks that maybe have
have never thought about the end of the
world
but but have gone on a Day hike and they
need a they need some some Essentials
and then you've got the ones that have
been prepping for generations for for a
mass War you know
yeah and we have we in our our customer
makeup is is everything you described
all under the sun right from weekend
weekend warrior weekend hiker to someone
that's preparing for you know uh the fan
scenario yeah yeah well I think you'll
give some some interesting perspective
when it comes to to business from that
angle but obviously you guys have an
incredible brand and I want to get into
some of that but before we do like the
story piece of it for John for for for
Mr. Roman what's the Deep burning desire
on the inside like why are you doing
this what's the bigger picture
world domination
okay okay
accumulate accumulate all the chips I
love that answer yeah just I
see how big we can take this and take
everything yeah
what do you think drives you to collect
all the chips
if if I can do something day in day out
Battlbox being the the current example
where where I I get a feeling that I'm
making a difference whether it's in the
lives of our team members whether it's
in the lives of our customers just
getting that satisfaction
for meat that checks the box and what
I've found is if I kind of treat that as
the North Star the the money and the
success thing kind of just follows
automatically sure yeah give us just a
little bit of a picture I mean have you
always been like that or did it start
off as I got to collect some chips and
along the way you've realized that those
kind of come secondary it's a good
question I mean I think I'm always
becoming a a better stronger faster
version of myself sure so I'm constantly
not the same person I was a year ago
yeah so I'm not the exact same version
but
I don't know I've had a I've had a an
interesting past so this is my
technically my third career so the first
career was to the surprise uh my peers
and friends and family after getting
done with college I decided I was going
to be a professional poker player so did
that for four and a half years
conclusion I was good maybe a b b plus
player wasn't an a player and if you're
not an a player it's not a good game to
be in you look at people maybe 10 15
years older than you that that aren't a
players and you're like man I really
don't want to become them so that was
that was the end of that chapter I then
tucked my tail between my legs and got
an entry level sales job at 26. and you
know coming on boarding with a bunch of
21 22 year olds and uh
I I had I had to prove myself right and
I I did that so I had a lot of success
in in B2B sales ended up building
sales teams and and really targeting
the the higher end of businesses so
started off in the SMB world but then
started really targeting that call it
Fortune 2000 Brands and selling selling
to them and knowing how to speak to
those decision makers
a lot of the success from there just
becoming a better version of myself was
from that four and a half years playing
poker professionally where I I was
putting in a 12 13 14 hour day sometimes
and at the end of the day
call it 70 of its skill set but that 30
luck in poker meant that I could put in
that grind session and really work hard
and not only not have anything to show
for it but I could be negative which
sucks so I think taking that mindset of
grinding into the sales world yeah
allowed me to kind of maybe out out work
and not think and outsmart others and my
peers and then fast forwarding towards
the end of that career I was investing
in startups and so I had worked for a
publicly traded company we had gotten
bought and taken private it's not a
decent little payday there and I was
making a decent amount of money where I
wasn't spending all of it by any means
so I started investing in in companies
predominantly in the e-commerce space
and that's kind of where Battlbox came
into the mix and
somehow
pause career number two and jumped into
career number three which is which is
Battle box yeah and direct to Consumer
Brands right right yeah which is
different than B2B completely actually
right
okay well I mean you gave you gave quite
a bit of information there I love the
love the
the the journey if you will Building
Sales teams for me also has has been a
huge you know building block of of my
career I think that you learn not only
just from the sales and sales process of
doing it as a sales rep but then being
able to get other people to to do that
almost like herding cats especially if
we're talking 21 22 23 100
it's a little bit of a unique
environment let's just leave it at that
yeah so what give us give us a little
bit more of the story the jump from B2B
sales to to battle box I mean it was a
company you've been investing you
obviously took interest I mean how did
you end up where you are sure so so we
had so Battlbox we founded Battlbox in
February 2015. so myself two other
technically I guess three other
gentlemen there were four of us
originally and I went to school with all
with the other three guys we had all
stayed in touch two of them had were
entrepreneurs had a business that they
had been running that was I don't want
to call it Uber successful moderately it
was paying the bills sure and they were
looking for the next next idea next
thing and in our friend circle at the
time I had probably been on the higher
tier of of of success with among my
peers so I I became kind of that that
person people always talk to about the
ideas and pitched the ideas too and get
your opinion and I loved it and I I said
hey I want to be a part of this wrote it
Shack the original idea was
advisement very limited capacity maybe a
few hours a month yeah and you know next
thing we knew in in 2015 I think we did
right at four and a half million dollars
wow and we go into 2016 and I make a job
change and I went to this startup that
was I think doing 11 12 million in top
line revenue and I had great
compensation and a plan where I would
have had a decent Equity position should
we exit get acquired but the reality is
those are Phantom shares they're not
real it's not real Equity right I'm not
I'm getting a K1 or some kind of
distribution check and
I jumped into that new role
and it was not I don't want to say I was
sold because it wasn't malicious a bill
of goods but I think their leadership
thought their Tech was a little bit
further along my assessment was we need
to to get to where we need to be it's
going to take us two years to build or
we can probably get there in a year
through acquisition and I told them this
and they were like okay well which one
do you want to do
and I'm not I have nothing on my resume
at that point to suggest I can deal with
Acquisitions or or or managing a Dev
team right and I'm looking at it and I'm
like okay a big decision here and we're
at about 11 million in revenue and I I
don't have
I'm I think technically I had a VP title
but it wasn't
right meanwhile we have battle box which
looking at the last couple of months
same run rate it's a bigger company and
I have actual large amount of equity for
it and I'm already kind of burning from
both ends putting in call it 50 60 hours
at both a week so I'm already not
sleeping it's already causing causing an
issue
I was like okay well this is this is the
opportunity so I went in there and I was
like recommendation three terminate me
they wouldn't do that but then I I put
in a resignation and by April I joined
Battlbox full time yeah well so a lot
of a lot of story there to to dissect
but so do you still have the partners at
Battlbox or is it is it mostly you yeah
so yeah so so there were four of us
initially when I came on my first task
is being full-time was to navigate
purchasing out buying out one of the
partners they weren't bringing any value
to the table
it was it was just a free lunch at that
point so if I was gonna jump in full
time and try to grow this and and give
my full attention I mean let's get the
guy out with the free lunch now so we
quickly within a few months came to a
deal and then it became the three of us
myself Daniel and Patrick and the three
of us ran it together until
2021 So Daniel was getting at a point
where he didn't necessarily have the the
drive anymore that Patrick and I had and
kind of just wanted to retire and be
done yeah we had we had had some success
that saw exponential graduated TV show
on Netflix and that kind of just shot up
the the revenue that at the same time as
Covid which was great for direct to
Consumer Brands so we had a weird thing
we we were agreeing on this valuation
it's a multiplier offibita and okay
let's call it we're all comfortable with
the six Saxy but I will
I don't want to take my ball and go home
yet I needed Patrick but it didn't make
sense for us to sell to us to buy Daniel
out at a 6X
it just didn't it didn't make sense yeah
personally so we found a buyer that we
thought aligned with us and and we were
acquired in October 2021 Daniel got to
retire like he wanted and Patrick and
myself got to got to stay on full time
yeah I love that in that example thank
you for sharing that and and just being
vulnerable there I think that that's
super helpful for some listeners to be
able to kind of hear the inner workings
of a deal like that
but really what it the end result is
that it doesn't like there's so many
different ways to split the pie and you
can really figure out whatever sort of
deal you need to whatever exit or
continuation
and even even though you're still there
it was an exit of sorts for you as well
you know so yeah Pig got to pay off the
house and pay off any any bills we had
so I mean it was a win yeah yeah
absolutely okay so so now we're we're
operating you know at a whole different
level we're no longer a startup phase
we've got a little bit of a backing now
and and some more you know procedures
and things in place
I'm excited to hear what you would look
back and go this this one decision
what is that one decision that you can
look back on and say because we did this
one thing a lot of other dominoes fell
what was that for you
so for us it was it was in 2017 where
we we wanted to be more than just this
subscription box I mean at the end of
the day 90 of our revenue is from the
subscription box but when you asked
about Battlbox I didn't say we were a
subscription box because yes it's a
product we offer but we made this
cognizant decision in 2017 where
we were going to lead with content
we're going to lead with content and
community building that was kind of our
focus and decisions we were going to
make around the business we were always
going to take those two things content
and Community into the decision making
process how is this going to affect
those yeah and making that change and
always just leading with content and
becoming
content Centric it started opening up
doors our traffic and following count
started growing which of course led to
more organic sales and then it started
opening this whole new world where
Production Studio reached out to us and
said hey we want to shoot uh Sizzle reel
and try to get you on a TV show and it
was just a whole new world that that you
know most brands are not seeing because
you're just not leading and focusing so
much on content everybody knows content
is important right right you know
content is King you see it every day
somewhere but actually executing on it
as opposed to just talking about it I
think it was that that was a pivotal
moment for us yeah
yeah the I loved I loved how your you
know content Community they kind of go
together like you're creating content
but what it does is it creates a
community right it's a hundred percent
and it was it was interesting so how we
decided to do it we were so we were
sending part of our initial go-to Market
strategy when we launched in 2015 so we
have four tiers basic to Pro Plus the
Pro Plus was 150 when we launched now
it's 170 plus sales tax in the Uber
majority of states and shipping ends up
being about 200 but we were sending that
Pro Plus which is our most popular about
45 of our base is actually in that box
yeah which is surprising and not the
theory we had when we launched the
subscription box but we were sending
about 30 of those out to YouTubers and
just that was part of our strategy we
wanted people giving unbiased reviews
content SEO it was was part of the
strategy and
you know to date ourselves and it's such
a cringe thing to say now when you talk
about conversion rate optimization and
stuff like that for your site but we had
a pre-purchase survey where prior to
even letting them give us the money we
said hey how'd you hear about us Usual
Suspects Facebook Twitter Instagram
Etc and we had a other where they could
type in something we don't know about
and we started seeing this huge influx
of people clicking other and they
started clicking and typing it in typing
in current 1776.
now at the time we don't know who that
is what that is we quickly find out it's
a YouTube channel it's this guy named
Brandon Curran that is putting out these
YouTube reviews jump to our Google sheet
he's not part of the 30 we're sending
this to so we find him in in the system
he's a paying customer he's paying the
450 doing this and we're getting this
crazy amount of traffic from him wow so
we start tracking it after a couple of
months we reach out to him or okay ma'am
we want to just keep sending you the box
don't don't stop what you're doing we
don't have to pay for it anymore and
then five six months down the road right
hey Brandon we're also going to give you
500 a month in addition just make sure
you do the video at this date like yeah
you can't have them stop this because
it's continuing and the next
conversation was hey Brandon so we know
this is just like a side hustle for you
but do you want to quit your day job and
move the wife and your three kids to
Georgia and just do content full-time
and he obviously talked to his family he
said yes he's the face of the brand if
you've seen a battle Box video you've
seen him yeah and as soon as he was you
know part of the team in a full-time
capacity we could then just lean in and
not even like double down on content but
quadruple down
that's that's what we did wow I I love
the the detail there I want to go just
one more layer because I'm I'm sure the
listeners are probably as interested as
I am but
you know providing valuable content like
you say contest king that's what we're
always like okay well what what does
that look like so on a on a normal week
whether that's him in a on a YouTube
channel or social like give us some
practicals on what you guys are doing or
maybe what you would suggest a business
owner listening today that they can do
to create quality content
sure so
the the horrible short answers you want
to do a lot of testing and find out
really what is gaining momentum and
getting eyeballs and getting engagement
right because the engagement part is
what builds the community which is the
whole reason you're doing the content to
begin with with certainty it's not it's
not making a video trying to sell a
product
um that comes later in the funnel that's
that's not not what you want to be doing
with content now you can occasionally
pepper in a sale or some kind of call to
action but it can't be the Uber majority
you're even close to this be a has to be
a very large minority of of your content
it's it's really just
unfortunately testing and trying to find
find what it is right so our largest
channel is Tick Tock we don't dance
which when we launched on Tick Tock was
what Tick Tock was known for right right
it was it was a rebranded musically and
people were dancing on there and we knew
that that was not our thing no sleeping
bags and hunting knives doing a dance
together right so so we it honestly is
testing a bunch of stuff and we found
stuff that works for us so for us
Outdoor Gear Company a lot of our
product videos were testing here we're
seeing if it if it's up to the test to
be in a battle box at the same level you
know another big thing we do what we've
always done is this is this unboxing
review of of the Box we send out it's a
25 to 30 minute video well we shoot it
in a way where Brandon and and whatever
the main character main focus is is kind
of Center in our filming so we take a
lot we'll take that 30 minute video and
from that we'll be able to chop five six
seven sometimes more short form pieces
of content from that right so I'd say 70
of our content that's short form which
is our focus is
repurposed re-edited from from a
possibly horizontal form video in
addition to that we're we're trying to
really show The Human Side of the brand
we we want to really show that because
that's a key part
for that connection to occur right so
yeah you you want to you want to form
that that connection that's that's part
of the community building
you look at if you're selling a product
where it is only kind of the need want
scale sure you know unfortunately battle
box is for some people it probably is on
the on the Need side but for a lot of
people it's probably closer on on the
one side it's that disposable income
that we're competing for that's right
and when something's farther on the want
side
consumers want to identify have some
sort of relationship connection with
that brand and this is a consumer
behavior that year over year has become
more and more true it's it's occurred
for a while but like it's just every
year becoming more of a trend yeah if a
consumer is buying something with your
disposable money it's and it's not
you know dire need just pure want there
has to be some sort of connection and
that's how we're forming that by
building this relationship with the
community it's a long answer to not
really give you a direct yeah it's good
stuff man would you say that that
relationship that you're building
I think it's applicable to so many
businesses listening even if
they're a marketing company or you know
installing Windows there can be a need
quote unquote in certain times but for
the most part we're all
needing to create this relationship that
you're talking about I think that it is
the absolute way to doing business in
today's world I also think it's the like
it's like the lever that we don't really
understand fully that we're pulling
even as we're networking doing a
business podcast between the two of us
like who knows where this relationship
goes or who I refer or who you refer
like you just don't know the power of
the lever and so you start doing it on a
regular basis and you're like oh wow
this is really powerful
and so inside of that I guess my
question to you is that relationship
that you're building
do you find that it stemmed from like
okay as the consumer yeah they they see
me is that is that the relationship
piece or I feel heard or is it like I
uplevel my status because I'm a battle
box member like what's the in like the
value inside of the relationship for
your consumer
sure so it's a great question so so in
addition to the content piece we have a
it was a it was just a website that was
a Reddit style Forum we unpopular
opinion have converted it over to a
Facebook group we like it as a Facebook
group it's a lot easier to moderate and
manage so if you're an active subscriber
you're allowed access to that group not
everybody takes advantage of it we have
maybe 8 000 people in there right now
that's that's a place and it it combines
that with commenting on Facebook and
tick tocks and and YouTube shorts but
it's it's just it's connecting other
people right yeah so so Chas you and I
might both be battle box customers and
because of all the engagement that we're
showing towards the Battlbox brand and
the Facebook group we're then meeting
and we're then forming forming a
relationship and we both live 20 minutes
from each other and we both like to go
camping well now we're going to go
camping together yeah and that's that's
the value add are we're connect acting
like-minded individuals yeah and giving
them a platform to connect learn from
each other
and buy battle box but also you get a
product you don't like
yields 8 000 people you can post and try
to trade it for something else or sell
it right so really
the the value is an actual actual
community and there's additional value
add like sure you know we're giving them
there'll be free giveaways we do and
yeah and unique exclusive stuff but at
its core that the value lies is that
we've created friendships yeah and it's
it's not like there's there's no other
argument Chaz and John became friends
because they were both Battlbox
customers yeah and and Chas and John
both know that which is which is pretty
cool
yeah it's actually really cool I want to
encourage the listener because this can
happen in any business in fact I just
want to liken this real quick because I
I haven't had anybody articulate it
quite as well as you just did but it's
actually exactly what I've done with
Gathering the Kings number one is a
mastermind group number two is a podcast
because
not only Mastermind members get together
and what you just described is exactly
what a mastermind does but even in
extension to that I have a Facebook
group for all my podcast guests and
sometimes
seeing podcast guests get together
because they both met me
is extremely fulfilling whether any of
them pay me money or not right I just
know that it it levels up the value of
the brand which then somewhere else
organically is going to get me exposure
and a deal
and I think that the way you articulated
it around community and actually pouring
into what relationships are built on
can be applicable to any business would
you agree 100 and will you describe it
I'm smiling inside because it's exactly
the same spot on right and then you're
back to
checking that box that I was talking
about where that satisfaction
like seeing that like you know what
you're doing is right yeah which is
extra motivating yeah continue to go
down that path 100 yeah I I'm I'm
already and I usually do this anyway but
I'm always like even in the midst of a
conversation on a podcast or somebody
that I that I'm doing business with or
or even one of the Mastermind members
it's like oh man I met John Roman the
other day you need to like boom
connection boom just like hey you need
me you need to meet you need to meet and
and really what it is like you're saying
by building the community You're
Building like this deeper level of value
that has nothing to do with the actual
product the actual trip or the actual
podcast or the actual you know box that
has all the products in it so right what
do you think is keeping I just I want to
hang here for just another half second
because I think it's just so valuable
what do you think is keeping most brands
or most just even entrepreneurs
listening right now
from doing what it is that you're
talking about
so it's it's a commitment and to truly
attack it and be successful with it you
have to go down that path and see a lot
of rejection and zero success and and
truly have the the vision that you're
doing it correctly and that it's going
to take a while Tick Tock for example so
we launched in we grabbed the name in
the beginning of covid and then
literally for a year until early 2021 we
just sat on it we had the account we
didn't make a single post we weren't
even logging in and we jumped in early
2021 and we really felt that we had
already missed the ball but we were
still going to give it a give it a good
good try the reality is we we had not
missed the ball yet and we were still
even though we found starting today
hasn't missed the ball would you agree
correct 100 but
those first
six seven months almost a year
it was 99 failure it got to the point
where my team started to probably think
I was crazy because I was like no
we're gonna keep doing this like this is
eventually going to work and our
audience lives on Tick Tock we just
haven't found them yet we're gonna keep
trying different types of content I even
convinced Brandon to do a dance one time
I was like let's just try a dance it
didn't work of course but it was but it
was funny and like I think he even put
the text like the boss is making me do
this right now right but we just kept
trying different approaches and it was
insane because it was constant failure
but I think to answer your question
that's people fail because they don't
get that instantaneous results that
they're looking for and they give up oh
it's not working this is not a a quick
return this is probably if you're
familiar with SEO where it's were we a
long long game Yep this is this is even
a longer game right yeah you're putting
these seeds in and trying to grow these
roots in this infrastructure but you're
you're never going underground so you
don't really see
the the build until you know when you
see that little little uh Sprout yeah
the reality is the roots are huge
underneath it a lot of times right and I
think it's human nature to not see that
little Sprout that little Boop and
you're like oh not working I'm gonna
give it up in reality you had built this
entire root system and just it was days
away or months away from sprouting and
you just didn't stick with it yeah and I
think it's it's tough to to not see
results and continue to go down that
path almost religiously but you have to
have the confidence that you're you're
doing it right and I think that's that's
where the failure happens people people
don't commit that long I was getting
like the air all the word that was just
pounding on my brain as you're talking
his commitment it's no I'm seeing this
through all the way right I know it's
gonna feel a little bit Weary at times
but no I'm gonna press in what you were
just talking about as far as the Sprout
and you know the roots you know I try to
teach my my children this and it's
difficult sometimes to get them to think
long term I mean they're three and seven
and nine yeah and nine months so she's
not even thinking yet yeah but the
reality is is
my my wife has been taking my son we
they found an acorn and and there they
planted it in a cup and you know it's
got like two inches of soil in it and
it's in a clear cup so he can see it
just the other day a little Sprout came
up and he was so excited he was daddy
I'm trying to use his words and trying
to explain what was happening and and
and so my wife reaches down and goes it
Whispers to him and tells him to show me
what was happening underneath and so he
flips open the you know the cup about
spills it all out you know luckily we
caught it but he won he was showing me
all the roots under there and how like I
mean they were just like everywhere
right in there and of course once it
gets a little bit bigger They're Gonna
Take It Outside and it's gonna grow into
a big old tree
for that to like have like been working
all this time you know it's only been a
week or two or three or whatever it's
been but the reality of it is for a
four-year-old that's like a really long
time yeah
it's it's the it's the same exact
analogy yeah man we get distracted we
get bored we get you know we don't have
enough persistence or perseverance we're
not committed really we're really not
all in right 100 same thing
crazy all right well let's flip the coin
you've given us some really valuable
information on a good decision what was
that bad decision that you made that
we can we can learn from so a bad
decision one of the first ones that that
we had and it was is honestly
in in hindsight it's easy to say it's a
bad decision it was it was really
because of naivety so
for the first year we we were
advertising on on one channel
we were we had we had one lead Source
Facebook Facebook ads well we had some
organic stuff I you know kind of had
alluded to the YouTube video so but from
from a paid Uber majority of our leads
and new customers were one place
Facebook and
it was all great until in our example uh
going into Labor Day weekend Friday at 6
pm
we're gonna have our biggest weekend
we've ever had literally it's gonna be
impossible not to be our biggest weekend
ever we're having a sale we never have
sales and not only do all of our ads get
declined rejected our account gets
deleted canceled you're dead Friday at 7
pm going into the three-day weekend and
we went from these are only lead source
so all of a sudden we went from these
consistent sales every day to literally
not the problems from 50 new customers a
day now we have one that came
organically from a from a YouTube review
right right and we were super super
fortunate in this situation where at the
time it was our Reddit light group and
one of our customers worked for Facebook
this is this is pre-covered so this is
people went into an office and his
office row of Cubes were like a few Cube
rows down from the the manual team that
was like in charge of those ads and he
was like Hey I'm gonna go ask them
and he like walked over this is on on a
Tuesday following all this two someone
came back dropped on our our Forum hey I
just spoke to someone over there they're
looking at it right now and like within
30 minutes we were back that's pure luck
happenstance like we got lucky
but it was a wake-up call on on a
mistake we were making and I think this
is true for for all businesses right
like you never want to be completely
dependent on one vendor One Source One
One customer
right like yeah you think about places
where you have this giant customer
that's 90 of your Revenue like that's a
problem
and that's the mistake we made and and
now we we we're far from ever it's not
possible to make that mistake now but I
think that's a huge mistake people make
yeah yeah it's interesting because you
you hear a lot of gurus talk about you
know one product one channel and I think
that that's true for a period of time
you know typically you know to maybe to
get to Seven figures but then you have
to you have to be able to go other
places otherwise you run you run too
great of a risk but right I want to
point out I don't actually think it was
luck that saved you that day I think it
was your intentionality behind building
relationships and a community well you
right so you could I'm a firm believer
that you create your own luck right and
and yes you could very strongly argue
that because of that Community approach
we put ourselves in the best situation
possible to to lock out the fact that
you told everybody hey we're down like I
think that's a pretty vulnerable thing
to share even with your current
desperation this is crazy yeah
yeah thanks for the clarity on that that
wasn't it wasn't a self-righteous moment
that was a oh we're gonna
right
yeah that's good stuff man but you're
right it's the power of community and
you intentionally doing the thing right
be way way before and and I can you know
not to Circle this all the way back to
you know the power of groups and and
community and masterminds and stuff but
it it is exactly what you're talking
about everything that we need or want
can come from a relationship and and
sometimes we don't know we need or want
something until it happens right in the
moment and you're like oh
but if you've already been planning and
and you know serving or or spreading
seed out of good not out of expectation
necessarily exactly knowing that that
there is an expectation of a harvest but
you don't necessarily know exactly where
it's going to be and when and at what
time right yeah
huge man all right what about like
something comes across your desk today
you got to make a decision on it do you
have a magic decision-making formula
help us make some good decisions here
John
no I I don't have like a a perfect
perfect process I think it depends on
on what what's crossing my desk right so
is it is it a is it an acquisition that
we're looking at to to fold into to our
portfolio is it is it a marketing
approach
I I don't have a perfect process I am
very process driven almost to a fault
where I have to sometimes say okay like
human turn human mode back on but it's
all it's all it's so dependent on on the
exam sure sure okay so what I'm taking
away from that is have a process but but
be intentional about what specifically
we're talking about
100 percent okay that's good what would
you say just for good making good
decisions in life kind of a little bit
more maybe you know 30 000 foot up how
have you you know made good decisions
repeatedly so anything important at
least personally my biggest thing is I
have to take the emotion out of it I I
and I think most people initially
there's some emotion in their decision
if they try to make a quick decision
sure and and taking the emotion out of
it it seems so silly to say but sleeping
on it it's not necessarily that like
sleeping on the actual decision is going
to make a difference it's right it's
allow the emotion to completely pull
pull from it so I think I'm very
calculated in that sense I sometimes you
have to make a decision right sometimes
something something's happening you have
to go with your guy you have to go right
then and there there's emotion involved
in that and you hope that it didn't sway
your decision but any meaningful
decisions it's
ensuring that the emotion is completely
out of it yeah which sometimes for most
people means you have to take some time
yeah yeah I didn't hear you say delay
and procrastinate I heard you say wait
take a breath and that breath might be a
day or two or however long right to be
able to Exhale the emotion and make a
logical Choice yeah but it yeah it's not
it's not progressing and push it out
right it's push it out the the
I don't even like saying push it out
just as little of time as possible and
everybody's different but knowing that
the emotions out of it and you're
looking at it purely from in a black and
white sense it's good it's good all
right I'm gonna go over to the speed
round first questions around kpis I like
to say it like this if you could only
pick one thing to track especially being
a marketing Guy this is gonna be good
what would be that one thing that you
attract
ban this
this question gives me anxiety
yes so we're we're so data driven and we
make all of our so many decisions the
Uber majority on
so many kpis so to to come and bring it
down to one my anxiety meter if I had to
pick one I would say actually profit
um or or even us because with with with
that you can at least
assuming you're blind on all other data
and kpis you at least know you have X
amount that you can reinvest and now you
don't know if it's profitable or not
because you're not looking at those kpis
but if you only have one is profit
because you know at least you can throw
more you can throw that back into the
game and try to build from it yeah I
love that that's that's your play it's
not to buy a boat or take a vacation
although I'm sure those things are in
your in your thought at some point but
it's to play the game I want to keep
playing the game right 100 percent
love that what book what resource would
you recommend for a business owner
trying to try to grow so
so this was this is a question that I
have I think it's an unpopular opinion
so okay
you see all these books that you're
going to read that are going to help and
and take you to the next step and I I
occasionally read I don't read as much
as as probably other other CEOs and
other people I I don't want to say that
it's a specific book I I think honestly
it's it's what we've already both hinted
at the group The the community The
Mastermind groups that's
to me that's that's the value when I
when I'm going to conferences in
Industry conferences like
the most important thing that I'm trying
to accomplish is is is networking
uh and it's not it's networking it's
Chas you're gonna be here I wouldn't be
I want to actually get to know you right
like I want to have an actual connection
with you and I think I think that's of
so much so much more value right you can
you can read a book where this person's
gonna give an example of how they did
something that might not be even close
to Apples to Apples or even be
comparable to to your business or what
you're trying to accomplish you then try
to try to fit that square peg in the
round hole for your business and it you
think you understand it but you don't
know if you really do and then
so many of the books are
like Ivory Tower Management Styles just
they're giving you just enough
information but it's
they they're not giving you the actual
there's no implementation there's none
and and that to me is is the Paramount
part and with a mastermind group
you're talking to peers you're talking
to people that have tried doing this or
you're trying to accomplish this for
your business and three other guys in
the group have done something very
similar and you can talk through what
they did what worked what didn't work
their learnings and and and like
troubleshoot together yep and that's
worth that's worth a thousand books yeah
in in in my opinion unpopular opinion
maybe but I'd rather be in a mastermind
group and be using that two hours a week
in that group right versus spending that
two hours reading yeah it's super
powerful when again we've talked about
this in almost the entire show but I had
one of my Mastermind members this was
probably a month or so ago I had a guest
speaker come in and
we talked about the 80 20 rule which
seems pretty simple but there's an
actual like strategy behind it and he's
done it with several private Equity
purchases he comes in and overlays this
strategy and helps them grow and then
they sell and the afterwards this member
he reached out he said Hey how
if you had to quantify
the value of that you know hour and a
half what do you think that that was and
I was like well obviously I can only
speak for me but Millions
and he was like yeah at a minimum you
know but but some people don't realize
that like that information yeah I'm sure
is in a book somewhere but right
not only not only the presentation
itself but then the agitating questions
afterwards that got us to think and
dissect like you were saying just a
little bit differently afterwards it's
like wow you can go apply that and it
can it can literally mean Millions to
your business right
the big deal okay what about family John
I want to know how you've obsessed about
your business and your family at the
same time I'm a firm believer that
there's no such thing as belief or a
balance
I'm a big believer in belief
balance is what I'm not a believer in
okay so I believe that in order to be
successful in business we got to be all
in committed
obsessed
I believe the same thing for my marriage
I believe the same thing for my kiddos
how have you been able to do that same
all in all at the same time it's tough
so I don't think work I mean work life
balance it does it does it exist I don't
think it does I think
both are important honestly I believe
family is is higher up on the importance
right than than the business yet you're
bleeding sweating for both and they they
work together so it's it's not easy I I
think
having dedicated time and it's tough and
I'm my my poor wife like she looks at me
and it'll be we'll be doing something
and she looks at me I'm looking at my
phone because there's some kind of fire
something's going on but you know as as
we've grown and the relationship has
grown she she understands like I'm doing
that for her
it's tough there's not to me there's not
a good answer I think I'm a constant
work in progress and I think hopefully
this the 2023 version or the 2024
version will be better than the 2023
version will be better than my 2022
version but I'm not great at it I I and
you know I think
it's it's tough and I'm I'm constantly
working on it but I'm not like there's
tons of area for improvement it's not a
good answer so it's a real answer and
therefore it is a good answer I've asked
that question too at this point a couple
hundred people and and maybe even more
than that because I ask it all the time
really kind of wherever I go and it's
always the same answer it's oh I know I
need to get better at that and but it's
not like we're not doing it it just
means that we know that there's area for
improvement and I would say that that's
probably across the board for all
entrepreneurs
that's why this work-life obsession is
what I call rather than the balance
because I don't believe actually that
they that they are separate and that
there's a balance I think that it's
actually all together and we got to be
all in
on all of it otherwise otherwise how can
you in fact I actually I'll say this to
you really as an encouragement because
my listeners may have heard it on a
podcast once before but I had another
guest that said it like this he said you
know if your business is a mistress then
you keep her from your wife and your
wife's always wondering what you're
doing and wondering whether you're
thinking about her or whether you're
thinking about the mistress and or and
your kids your kids don't know who the
mistress is you know it's like so forth
and so on down the story right or it's
another kid in the family and it sits at
the table and everybody knows its name
and everybody knows when you know the
events are and and everybody has
t-shirts and it's like everybody goes
yeah it's just like your wife is
involved the kids are involved like it's
got to be together you gotta be all in
on all of it and it's like that's that's
I love that
that's great big deal
one last question here for you John this
might seem odd because we're both young
guys but
powerful nonetheless
if you had a chance to whisper in the
younger John's ear
what would you say oh man
that's deep
how to take a break for that one yeah I
mean I'd probably give
stock advice you're the first one oh my
gosh Sandy my production she she's gonna
she's gonna freak out because she asked
me after hundreds of people she's like
what would be your answer oh Bitcoin
Apple yeah yeah like stock advice tell
maybe tell tell me who's gonna win the
World Series like yeah yeah she said to
me which I'll say to you okay fine
but what's the real answer I think that
is the real answer I know I know yeah it
would be a hack some information to make
everything easier gotta come up with
something else though because you're
right because that's not
so the Back to the Future answer doesn't
count
it's real though I I know it because
that that's what I felt for a long time
so we can go with it if it's real yeah
it's real I I don't I think
giving an answer of like a learning that
you know I've I have the older John has
to give to the younger John the reality
is
the younger John old John could tell
young John that and
I'm gonna trust but I'm still gonna
verify it right I'm not gonna take it at
face value I'm still going to challenge
it I'm probably still going to go down
that path and and I'll it'll be a theory
at that point or a hypothesis that I'm
testing but I'm probably still not just
gonna take it for face value so it
doesn't matter
but if you told me about a stock I'm at
least gonna give me a stock with uh you
know not just a 200 return like
something insane over time and I'm gonna
I'm gonna take a shot at it regardless
totally it's it's interesting I I you
know I dissect some of the like you know
just psycho pieces of of why are our
answers like this the best the
description I give to listener is that
it's a super high logic strategic person
who's answering this because that's how
that's how I think it's like well if I
had this one opportunity
to talk to the younger Chas I mean I
feel like you know yeah okay persist
everything's gonna be okay you know keep
going like all those things are great
like yes that would have been super
encouraging to hear at 20 that the 36
year old Chaz is like hey bro like
things are working out pretty good just
keep your head down keep focused
but
super strategic very logical like X Plus
y equals z I would have been like bet
all in let's go yeah 100 percent
Back to the Future here is that the
sports book here's the Packers the
sports almanac for the next 10 years
yeah yeah that's funny man well I want
to know how can we find battle box how
can like give us a little promo on on
your product where can we find and then
also where can we find you as a business
sure so Battlbox is battlebox.com
b-a-t-t-l-b-o-x no e in that if you put
an e you're gonna end up on a Disney
site Disney owned site go to Netflix go
to the search bar type in Battlbox our
show will pop up we're on all social
media Tick Tock and YouTube are our two
biggest channels
on on me personally unpop third
unpopular opinion of of the show
LinkedIn is my preferred platform so I'm
most active on LinkedIn also on Twitter
I have a Blog called
onlinecaso.com I try to
walk people through initiatives things
we're doing and I try to not sugar coat
it I'm I'm not just posting the wins I'm
trying to post some of our losses
because I think they're probably more
important because there's Lessons
Learned in those and the thought process
I can save someone else
that the trouble totally um
love that you gave us a little
Smorgasbord of ways to connect I
appreciate that and we'll put all that
in the show notes as well but awesome
John this has been a super fun interview
I look forward to building an actual
connection with you like you said and
what an honor I get to get to do that
and thank you for being here blessings
on your family your business all the
people that you're touching all across
the world with your products we we thank
you for being here thank you as well
thanks for having me Chaz this was this
was a lot of fun thank you for listening
to Gathering the Kings today I hope that
you were able to pull out a few nuggets
to go applying to your business right
away more importantly though I hope that
you're realizing that it takes more to
be successful than just being by
yourself doing it all on your own
carrying the weight all by yourself what
I have realized not only in my own
Journey from multiple businesses in
multiple different Industries and now
interviewing literally over two or three
hundred other very successful seven
eight and nine figure business owners is
that
it's tough to do it alone and so
Gathering the Kings literally exists to
bring together successful entrepreneurs
in fact we are putting together 1
000 Kings specifically who are grateful
but not done who are intentionally
assembling Kings who fight tooth and
nail for their business family and
communities and here's what we believe
that in the pursuit of excellence in
those areas that it ignites within us
the responsibility to govern power and
Forge a lasting Legacy so if that
relates and and resonates with you and
you know that you need people around you
sharp qualified other very successful
business owners I want you to go to
gatheringthekings.com I want you to take
a look at what we're doing and see if it
makes sense for you to be part of our
Pursuit
to 1 000 Kings talk soon