500: The BIG 500th Episode Twist: My WIFE Takes the Mic To Discuss Business Family And Life

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You are listening to the My Wife Could Her Job podcast, the place where I bring on successful bootstrap business owners and delve deeply into what strategies are working and what strategies are not with their businesses. Now I just celebrated my 20 year wedding anniversary and this is episode 500 of the podcast. So I have an extra special show for you today. I invited my wife to come back on to talk about business, family and life after 20 years of marriage. And I was actually pretty shocked by some of her responses and I think you’ll find this episode interesting.

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especially if you’ve followed me for a long time. But before we begin, I want to let you know that tickets for the 2024 Seller Summit are now on sale over at Sellersummit.com. The Seller Summit is the conference that I hold every year that specifically targets e-commerce entrepreneurs selling physical products online. And unlike other events that focus on inspirational stories and high-level BS, mine is a curriculum-based conference where you will lead with practical and actionable strategies specifically for an e-commerce business.

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Every speaker I invite is deep in the trenches of their business, entrepreneurs who are importing large quantities of physical goods, and not some high-level guys who are overseeing their companies at 50,000 feet. I personally hate large events, so the Seller Summit is always small and intimate. Every year we cut off ticket sales at around 200 people, so tickets sell out fast and we’ve sold out every single year for the past eight years. If you are an e-commerce entrepreneur making over $250k or $1 million per year,

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We also offer an exclusive mastermind experience with other top sellers. The Seller Summit is going to be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from May 14th to May 16th. And right now, this is the cheapest the tickets will ever be. Also, if you haven’t picked up my Wall Street Journal bestselling book, The Family First Entrepreneur yet, it’s actually available on Amazon at 38 % off right now. My book will teach you how to achieve financial freedom by starting a business that doesn’t require you to work yourself to death.

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Plus, you can still grab my free bonus workshop on how to sell print on demand and how to make passive income with blogging, YouTube and podcasting when you grab the book over at mywifequitterjob.com slash book. So go over to mywifequitterjob.com slash book, fill out the form and I’ll send you the bonuses right away. Now onto the show.

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Welcome to the My Wife, Quitter, Job podcast is episode 500. And can you believe that I’ve been running this podcast since 2014 with over 5 million downloads and counting. This podcast is mainly what I’ve been recognized for in the e-commerce space. And it’s been an amazing ride. Now, whenever I hit a milestone episode, I always like to do something special. And just a couple of days ago, my wife and I celebrated our 20 year wedding anniversary. Again, another crazy milestone. So I thought,

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that it would only be appropriate to have my wife back on the show to talk about business, family, and life. And if you haven’t met Jennifer Chu before, she is the foundation of all the businesses that we run together. She’s a fantastic mom and probably volunteers for more school activities than almost any parent I know. And most importantly, she’s always available for both the kids and myself. Welcome back to the show, Jen. It’s weird calling you Jen. How are you doing today? I’m doing good. Thanks.

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20 years is a heck of a long time. And I’ve gotten some questions from friends on Facebook and Instagram. And their main question was, what do you think has allowed us to put up with each other for over 20 years now? Well, when we got married, actually at our wedding day, you made a comment that I thought was appropriate. At first I didn’t, but the comment was,

03:44
you make all the decisions in this relationship. But I will decide which decisions are actually implemented. I don’t know if that’s actually accurate. But it’s true. I do drive a lot of the stuff. And then whether you’re on board or not, whether you’re board or not is what happens. Is that your answer? I don’t know what my answer is. Okay, you want me to give you mine first? Okay, I put up with you. No, no, no, no, no, it’s got nothing to do that. And we do fight. Yeah, right.

04:13
I think that the reason why we’ve lasted so long is because whenever we get into a fight and I know like one of us has been rude or whatnot, I know that your intentions are always good because you are the most considerate person that I’ve ever met and I don’t think that there’s like an evil bone in your body. So if you were to say something mean to me or yell at me or whatnot, I always know that it’s

04:42
Like even if you’re mean, you don’t mean it. So that’s why it works for me. Okay. Whereas like, I mean, it’s been years since I’ve dated anyone, but in the past, like I’ve always had like certain trust issues where, hmm, you know, I’m always wondering if that was malicious or not with you that never happens. Okay, I’ll take it. Okay. So do you have an answer? Are you just going to recite? I’m basically just going to agree that you’re very lucky to have me. Oh, God.

05:11
Okay, this isn’t an interview for me. It’s it’s it’s you. Alright, okay. So how about this then turn it around? For anyone out there listening? What advice would you give them to have a long and happy marriage? I think a lot of it is communication. You should also play to your strengths. I think everyone has different strengths. And we are really good about balancing strengths. So

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with your spouse or your partner, you should find out what each person is strong in and then allow them to actually excel in that strength. Okay, so what would you say is your strength versus mine? I would say you’re the big idea person. Like you know, what will make growth or what will be overall good for our family, our family financially, for example, I would say my strength would be more of

06:08
Implementing. Okay, implementing. So I’ll tell you what I’m going to expand on what you just said. Because because I implement all of like the marketing and website. Absolutely. You’re more I’m a doer. You’re more of an operations person than I am. Yes, right. would agree with that. Because like I hate, you know, keeping tabs on all these little things that that happened. Yeah, I think to my fault is I think of the little things

06:35
a little too much where you see the bigger picture. And I don’t know who asked me this, but someone want to know who’s cheaper, me or you. Okay. I think we have difference of opinion. I think you’re pretty darn cheap, but I would say I’m very, very frugal too. So I will sometimes spend so much time to try to get the best deal and to try to get as cheaply as possible.

07:05
I think I will spend more money on certain things. Like I will like want to spend more money on vacations, for example, whereas you could totally go without vacation. Yes. So like in that regard, I think you’re cheaper just because it’s not important to you. Well, I do spend a lot of money on NBA games. Yes, that’s because it’s important to you. Right. So I think there’s a lot of things that are not important to you, in which case.

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you will try to do as cheaply as possible. So I’ve changed my mind on vacations. And the reason why I didn’t like vacations in the past was because when our kids were super little, it was such a hassle. We had to lug these big car seats and they’d be upset at night or they wouldn’t sleep and that would just ruin like it wasn’t relaxing for me. Well, you were saying it’s not a vacation. Yes. It’s a what do you call it? A family trip. It’s a family outing. family outing. That’s right. Yes.

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But now like the kids are older, like I actually enjoy the vacations. Yeah. Well, you used to not like to go to nice restaurants with the kids because the kids would just eat like, well, they wouldn’t appreciate it. They wouldn’t appreciate it. And then we would be like enjoying our meal. And then they would be like, it was almost telling them, Oh, eat your food. Like, and you’re like, you’re spending so much money on like this delicious meal and they wouldn’t enjoy it. Right. And they appreciate food. They appreciate food now a lot more.

08:31
Yeah, yeah, it’s funny things. Which phase of the childhood did you like the best? The way it is now or when they were younger or when they were in the kind of like the. I think each phase is different in its own way. I love the fact that the kids have opinions now, but that’s also something that it tries to move on. They have opinions also, but I really enjoy the time they are now because they are super excited about traveling now.

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So when we went on vacation, they actually decided on stuff that they really wanted to do. And it was kind of fun to go to those activities also. I actually like this phase the best too, because they have opinions actually. It drives me crazy when I ask someone a question, they go, I don’t care. I don’t care. they still do that. They still do that. But my least favorite phase was probably the baby phase. Oh, there’s something about like they were just so cuddly when they were babies.

09:28
I really enjoyed like probably early elementary school age. Like I really enjoyed. Yes. Those are my favorite age five and on. Yeah. They were like so cute and you know, they were already potty trained. They start, you know, they could speak and they were just so fun. All right. Let’s, let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about the business since that’s what this podcast is all about. And we’ve been running it. This is our 17th year. Did you know that?

09:54
This is our 17th year running the, you don’t have to do the math. did the math. it’s 16th. 2007. Oh, okay. guess anyway, how do you think that you’ve grown or changed since running the business and quitting your job? Hmm. I’m definitely happier now because I didn’t like my previous job. Okay. I like the flexibility of it versus the old, my old job was not very flexible.

10:23
I think in terms of me changing, I don’t know. Do you think you’re a better worker in your own business versus the job or is there anything you miss about working a day job? I did like working with my my coworkers. really, I mean, even though I said I didn’t like my job, I really liked my coworkers. So if it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t have lasted as long as I did. I worked with some really, really nice people.

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I would say I probably care a little bit more. It’s my own like company versus working for a larger corporation. I think some of the stuff that we put up with in just the corporate culture was just really, really annoying to me. And I joke about it now because I just, just the amount of waste and time and money doing certain things. was just stupid to me. I think the issue with your job, honestly,

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was that you didn’t work for a startup. You worked for a large, both your companies or all the companies that you worked for were large. So you probably got like a small task. Whereas almost every company that I worked for was a startup. Like EFI, I wouldn’t consider it a startup, but I was in a small team where I had ownership of a complete project. And then at Tensilica, I was, you know, it was 30 people when I started. So it felt like Bumblebee linens in a way.

11:51
I can definitely say it never felt like Bumble Bee Limits, my old job. But I wouldn’t say that I didn’t have a larger view because depending on which job it was, was a finance analyst. So as a finance analyst, I was a planning and reporting analyst actually. So I reported and planned the financials for certain business groups. And for Agilent, for example, it was actually a pretty large finance group.

12:18
So I felt like I had a good preview of what was going on in the company. So I’m wondering like, if you did actually join a startup, whether you would like that better. I actually miss my job in a way. I miss coworkers because when you when you leave and when the kids are in school, I’m at home alone here. Right. It’s kind of lonely. Yeah. Well, I must say, you know, though we have really nice customers, customer support is not something I love. So it

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Working the corporate job was probably easier in that regard. So you just work with co-workers and you didn’t have to really respond to people complaining, for example. Here’s a question I’ve I’ve thought about in the past. Do you think you’ve gotten dumber since running the business? Probably. I think like that all the time, because the stuff that’s involved in running the blog, podcast, Bumblebee linens.

13:15
Honestly doesn’t require that much brainpower compared to what I used to do in the in my day job Right. So I I mean I probably got dumber But I think I think for example Like my skills in Excel have gone down for sure sure Yeah, whereas I used to be on that all the time and I was I used to have to analyze the data

13:39
So I still analyze the data, but you’ve created some really good systems. So I don’t need to analyze the data as much or as deeply as I did before, because it’s just done now. I think things that keep me on my toes is more of the stuff I do for the schools, for example. But some of that stuff is really just brainless activities also. It depends on what it is. I know for me, when I code now, it takes me a hell of long time. And just even thinking through

14:08
Maybe it’s because life’s so much easier now. Like I’ll type in something in ChatGPT instead of thinking about it. Or like if I have a question, I’ll just type into Google. And so I’m using my brain less because the answers are out there. Yeah, I mean, I can see that. I mean, I use ChatGPT also, but I use it more for personal stuff. Like, for example, if I want to write a thank you card, how do I do that in a simpler way? Because sometimes that just requires, I want to be thoughtful when I…

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write a thank you card, for example, but I may not know the exact words to use. So I might use it as a launching pad. So it just makes everything so much simpler. ChadGBT, plan me a 20 year wedding anniversary surprise. Yeah. Yeah. So in an ideal world, maybe someday I want to start like some sort of SaaS company or whatever, but not until the kids go off to school. I’m curious for you though, what is the end game?

15:08
I think you’re leading. Well, I’m just curious. Because we always chat about how I could do nothing. Yeah. I could just stay at home and do nothing. Do still think that’s true? still think I can. I really do. I think I would probably maybe volunteer more in different activities, but I think I could easily just stay at home and do nothing. Well, volunteering is not doing nothing. I know, but… What would you volunteer for?

15:36
I don’t know, it depends. You already volunteer. I do volunteer, but the kids are older, so there’s less things that I would volunteer for. But I think maybe I would mentor somebody in high school. I don’t know. Let me ask you this question. How do you feel about college and the role of school going forward? Oh, I still think maybe it’s the Asian in me. still highly, highly

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want our kids to go to a really good college, less so for the actual education, but more of the peer group and just being motivated. And I think it’s a softer landing spot for them to be like kind of transition into adulthood. Yeah, no, I, I, I full on agree with going to college and there’s a number of people who I’ve chatted with in business space about the importance of college. I grew socially a lot in college. I did too. I would say that

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Well, I’m super introverted still but I think that in college I definitely got out of my comfort zone a lot and I made a lot of great friends but it definitely pushed me to be more social because I definitely was way way more introverted and shy in high school and when I was younger. And I’m thinking to myself I don’t use anything really that I learned in college education wise.

17:00
Even when I got my first full-time job, I didn’t really use any of that engineering knowledge, save for like one or two classes, I think. Yeah, I think I grew the most with actually jobs I had during college time. So, you know, I worked many internships and I also worked at a restaurant, for example. I think I had a lot of growth, a lot during that time. So I was also asked about like family dynamics.

17:28
And I’m curious what you have to say about this. Like, what is your role versus mine in terms of the family in the household? I think someone asked me the question too. I don’t know. I think we’re really good partnership. I think I take on a lot of the kids stuff, but so do you. But we take different, different aspects. Like you definitely are doing a lot of the kids sports and helping them like and driving them around. I think I’m more involved in the school aspect.

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you know, like, for example, making sure that that they’re on track at school. So I’m probably more the tiger parent in terms of making sure that they’re getting good grades and everything. But I also feel like I manage a lot of our household finances, just the day to day activities of like everyday life. I mean, we both go grocery shopping, but I would say that I probably plan all the family vacations, for example. you know, handle all the finances.

18:26
I make sure everything’s paid for, you I guess you make the money, I spend the money. I don’t know. That’s true. But I do know one thing that I do know is that you’re always going to be frugal. Actually, one of the things I asked you earlier was why have we lasted so long? It’s because we have similar family values. Correct. We have similar spending habits. And there’s trust.

18:53
Absolutely. think if you were a spender and I was frugal, that would be a big problem. Yeah, probably. Right. And if we didn’t have the same philosophies on raising kids, I think that might be a problem. think that would be a bigger problem. Yeah. I think for example, like, even though I think you spend a lot of money on your MBA ticket, that’s like once in a lifetime. What I’m what my point is, I don’t say anything about it, because you’re so cheap in other regards, like

19:23
I know it’s important to you. Therefore, what can I say about it? Because it’s important to you. So it doesn’t bother me. So I’m looking down like this list of questions that were submitted here. Okay. People are just curious what you do day to day. It really depends on what day. it depends on Mondays are my busiest day. So Mondays I will. So let me take a step back.

19:52
Every day I drop off my son to school and then I go to work usually, especially Mondays. Mondays are my busiest day as I mentioned before. They’re explain why. Oh, okay. Uh, the weekend orders come in. usually we have a huge backlog of orders. That’s basically Friday orders, Saturday orders and Sunday orders. So Monday’s usually my busiest day. So I go in to help organize, like print the invoices, you know, run them.

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embroidery like run the embroidery program so that we can start stitching it out. I make sure that we’re stocked on like inventory and I guess what’s the word? I’m sorry. I’m blinking. make sure Amazon stocked. Yeah, I just basically making sure everything’s on track. Nothing’s falling behind on Mondays. I typically will leave every day, maybe around. Well, I go to lunch and maybe around two o’clock and then

20:50
I usually take maybe Friday off. This is the… Actually, I take that back. This is for the most part for the majority of the time, but during Christmas time, I’m there all the time. So during Christmas time, say from early November to end of December, I’m there all the time. So when Steve says that I only work 20 hours a week, that’s true for the majority of the year, but it’s up for Christmas time. Except for starting Black Friday on, it’s like…

21:19
crazy. Well, actually, November, November, November, basically November on November to when we close in December. I’m there all the time. How many times you would you say that we have lunch together in a week? At least once, maybe twice. Right. And then we always have dinner for the most part for the most part. Yeah. Well, it depends on the kids schedule. Right. So a lot of the times we may not have the same schedule because one of us has to take

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one of the kids to practice, for example, or there’s a volleyball game at the high school. Yeah. Yeah. Volleyball, in case anyone’s listening, like if you decide to do club volleyball, it is all consuming. Like every other weekend, I’d say we’re traveling somewhere for a volleyball tournament and then they practice three or four times a week. And it’s almost year round and it’s almost year round. It’s it’s nuts. Yeah. And since we have two kids in club volleyball, yeah, it’s and of course they don’t

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they don’t overlap. So the schedules never seem to overlap. So we’re constantly driving them to club volleyball practices. This is a question that I never really asked you. I don’t think. Where do you see yourself in the business five years down the line? Like, do you plan on running Bumblebee for a while? I mean, no, I know I have my plan, but what do you know? I probably hope.

22:45
I hope not to be there in five years. Instead, what’s the plan then? Me sitting at home doing nothing. I’m joking. I’m joking. Okay. He’s looking at me like I’m crazy. I think, you know, we’ve had this plan and it’s granted a lot of my issue. I have a hard time letting go. that’s how you want to massing. Like, do you find anything fulfilling about running in public right now?

23:15
Right now, not so much. I’m more excited about what the kids are doing in five years time. So hopefully, you know, in the next two or three years, my daughter is going to go to high, sorry, go to college. And then my son will be going into high school. So I’m way more invested in where they’re going to end up in college. And that’s where my focus is, you know, so hopefully in five years time, they’re both in college. Yeah.

23:43
And at that point, I don’t know what I would do. So I mean, maybe I’ll go back and volunteer more doing other things. Or I don’t know if I will want to stay and do Bumblebee forever. Not forever. I mean, I guess we could sell it, although then I would need some sort of business as the foundation. To be honest, I don’t know if we will ever really sell it. I think we just ease me completely out and have someone else run it.

24:12
Yeah, it’d have to be someone who cares though. You know, there’s a lot of things on my list that we’re not doing. I know, I know. Because I know, I know you don’t want to do it. I can’t do it. I don’t feel like I can do it. But I think everyone pretty much knows that. And we’ve talked about this. knows. No, I think a lot of people know that, you know, at least I’ve had this conversation with multiple people. There’s a lot of things that we could do to grow our business even bigger. But

24:39
we purposely have kept things smaller so that it’s manageable within my timeframe. And also so that we’re not driving ourselves crazy because the kids are, you know, only with us for say five more years. So before they go off to college or move until we’re empty nesters, let’s just say. Yeah. So my answer to that question I just asked you was I do find it fulfilling because it gives me a reason to research all these cool things.

25:09
No, I know it’s totally fulfilling for you. But your question to me was if I find it fulfilling. Well, OK, so what what fulfills you? Let’s say the kids are gone. The kids aren’t a factor right now. Let’s say they’re already in college. What fulfills you? I I honestly don’t know. I think, you know, my focus has always been the kids and the family. So maybe who knows in five years time, maybe I’ll get more into, you know, the business. But what would you be into,

25:38
I know. think maybe I would volunteer and be a mentor to high school kids, or maybe I would go back to and teach entrepreneurship to kids. I’m not entirely sure, to be honest with you. I’ve never really thought that far ahead because my focus has always been on let’s get the kids into a good college so that they’re set for for life or not for life. mean, you know, they’re set. All right. So let’s let’s talk about

26:08
I don’t actually remember the early days, but if you could go back in time when we first started and let’s say we started all over knowing what we know today, what would you have done differently? Anything? Huh? Um, okay. Let me, let me rephrase this real quick. Back in the day, did you have fun when we first started this thing? No, you didn’t really. I, I, I joke. It depends on what, what time frame period in the very, very beginning when we were building this, was

26:36
exciting because it was like we were building something so I could leave, right? And I was really excited about being able to stay at home and do stuff. I never thought the business was going to grow as big as it has, like who knew, right? So, you know, I feel like we’ve built our business pretty well and I feel like it’s scaled up pretty well. So I don’t know if you feel that same way, but you know,

27:03
I’m very happy with our life. I’m like extremely thankful for our life. So I wouldn’t have necessarily done anything super differently. I think if we had to like in hindsight, I’m like, wish we bought another house, like multiple houses earlier on. But I think it was the best decision for us to move the business out of the house. Like that was a huge, big growth, right? And trusting people earlier on. I don’t know. Would you have moved it out earlier?

27:34
I don’t think we could have. So for people listening, we actually ran out of our garage for a couple of years. Four years. Was it that long? Really? I think so. Yeah. We had this like nice indexing system. Like the garage was in rows. We had racks. Yeah. I wish we had pictures of all that. So we didn’t take any pictures. I know. I don’t know why we didn’t think about taking pictures. I mean, even in our, when we were looking for a house to buy, do you remember how we were picking houses on where can we store the business? Yes, I remember that.

28:04
I mean, there was like, we picked this house because we are family room was kind of closed off so we fully live in one space and then have the business in another space. Do you remember that? Yeah, no, of course I remember. We almost bought this one house, which I thought was the ugliest house in the world. it was super ugly, but it had such a nice setup for the business. Yeah. So for all of you guys listening, you probably heard me say this before, but based on my wife’s personality, like

28:32
we optimize based on sleeping at night and in control. So for example, we actually just bought our warehouse earlier this year. I’m actually about to film that YouTube video giving you guys a tour because I think it’s, I think it’s time that we gave you a tour of the new house. But up until then the rents were getting jacked up and then you either pay the higher rent, which was increasing at like 30 % a year, or you move.

28:59
Right. Whenever your lease comes up, moving is a big pain in the butt. Correct. And now that pressure is all off. But we were looking for a very long time. So it wasn’t like we just all of a sudden decided, it’s kind of looking for that long. I was looking, you were looking for, was looking for a very long time. just wasn’t any warehouses in the size range that we want. was relatively affordable within a certain driving distance from where we wanted to be. But I was looking because I was seeing the writing on the wall where all the rent kept on going up and up and we were running out of space.

29:30
and our landlords were horrible. You know what’s funny is that I know you really well and I know that you’re super competitive. I’m not competitive. Okay, remember that time we did the steps test? Yes, we all have fit bits. then Jen decided to Well, you know, so it was the competition between my sister and my cousin and me. Right. So we had a competition on who could have the most steps in one day. I was very, very competitive that day.

29:59
And I actually went to Great America, which is an amusement park by us. And so my sister and I, I’m not very athletic, so they didn’t really take me seriously as a big competitor. So that day, while the kids were on rides, I just circled the park, like around and around. I would stay in line with them and then as soon as they got on the ride, would then walk. And then later that day,

30:29
If you don’t sync up your Fitbit to the Fitbit app, it wouldn’t count your steps. And so I purposely kept my phone away from my Fitbit so my sister and my cousin could not know how many steps I had. So they thought I was having a really low day. They’re like, oh, she’s not taking it seriously. So at the end of the day, at the last 15 minutes, I synced it so then I would show this huge increase.

30:58
Not only, okay, for people listening, my wife does not like to work out. So this whole step thing, like you walked all around good America and then you came home and you did the treadmill. I the treadmill for several hours. Yeah. I did 30,000 steps. you did like 35,000 steps. Anyway, that the point of this question had nothing to do with that, but you’re competitive yet when it comes to business, I don’t feel like you’re that competitive. No. Right. Like I see our competitors sometimes I just want to rock them.

31:27
Well, I see our competitors and I make notes on what I think we should do but I don’t implement that. Right. You go Steve, go implement that. Yes, I do. All right. Okay. Let me ask you this then. What keeps you motivated and inspired to continue on this journey? Our kids. Okay. But then when they’re gone, you’re not going to, when they’re off to college, you’re not going to be, and then it’s just me. Yes.

31:57
I don’t know. mean, I, to be honest with you, I don’t think that far ahead. I just think of, you know, the time that they’re with us. And that’s where I’m really just focused on. So I haven’t really thought really far beyond. It’s funny, because I’m like the I wouldn’t say I’m the opposite, but I think I know you’re you’re always very fortunate. have to plan ahead otherwise. Yes, I know. You’re for you’re very forward thinking.

32:26
I think I’m going be running this stuff for the rest of. Oh, I know you are. And I hope to be just sitting here. I don’t think you can pull that off. I know. I know. I feel like it’s a, I joke, but I think in general, like I, you’re definitely, I can see you doing this the rest of your life. I hope to not be that way. All right. Okay. Let’s say, let’s say the kids are off to college beyond.

32:55
financial success because presumably you want money so we can go traveling and do all this stuff, right? Right. Right. Okay. So what do you hope to achieve? mean, that requires money. So what do you hope to achieve after? I’m actually curious myself because I don’t even know the answer to this. Okay, let me me rephrase this question. If you saw me and I was at home just playing games all day and not doing anything, which is kind of like the life that you want after the kids go to school, wouldn’t you lose respect for me a little bit? No, you wouldn’t.

33:25
So if I just came home and you bought bonds and played games all day and everything else went to to crap. Well, if it would if everything went to crap, then we would have issues. OK. Right. But I don’t think I would lose respect for you. would be like, oh, he’s enjoying himself. Oh, OK. So you’re saying that I know I can never do that. I feel like if if we’re financially set. Like we don’t spend a lot, right? Right.

33:53
So if we’re financially set and you’re happy, which I doubt you would be happy playing games all the time. That’s true. wouldn’t. So if you were happy, I would be okay with it. I mean, that’s what retirement is for. Cause we don’t spend so crazy, you know, that we would have to worry about money. think if we had to worry about money, you would work your butt off. I would definitely work my butt off. I don’t think we would ever put ourselves in a case where we would be really worried. Yeah, that’s probably true. Okay.

34:23
The thing is, feel like really, I mean, we don’t have a lot of financial issues, but if push comes to shove and we needed me to work, I would work and do that. Yeah, it probably wouldn’t get to that point. OK, let’s switch gears because I want to this is our 500th episode. want to kind of reflect on our journey. What are some of the memorable things in your mind that you remember about either running the business or certain milestones that we’ve hit?

34:53
over the years. think so the warehouse getting the warehouse was really exciting. warehouse? Yeah, the first warehouse. I wasn’t that excited about that. Oh, really? I was worried. Moving the business out of the house? Yeah, I was worried about that. Really? Yeah, because it was it was like $4,000 a month or however it was. wasn’t that much. The first one was not that much. Yeah. But I was excited because

35:19
I felt like we could do so much more. I mean, I was working nonstop then. I felt like I was definitely working more because if you remember correctly, I would be like when it was at our house, I would print our invoices all the time and then I would check back and print more invoices. Yeah, but you to do that. I know, but it was like, I was like, oh, I’ll just get ahead and I will pack now. So tomorrow will be less work. But I felt like I was constantly doing that. So I felt like I worked more.

35:48
when it was out of our house, even though we had little babies, you know, at the time, I felt like I worked a lot because I was trying to get ahead. So moving it out of the house was really, really good for us. For you, for me, for me, it created additional worries because all of a sudden we’d have to pay rent on something where even if the business slowed down, we’d still have to pay that lease. Right. Yeah. So that made my life more stressful. Well, you are more stressed, but I think for us, it was great. I think, let’s see, the today show is

36:17
definitely memorable. Yep. I think anytime we got into magazine was pretty exciting. Did buying our warehouse was exciting. Getting our first employee was great. I think you know what stands out in my mind? What? The first time we got our first book order, I was just going to say that you were the first book shipment was really exciting. It was scary because you’re like, where, where’s this all going to go? I remember that person ordered a whole bunch of stuff and I was like,

36:48
Wow. This person must have. Oh, you know, you know what I’m talking about? So I was thinking more of us getting our first bulk shipment over seat from oversight. Oh, no, I was talking about our first order. Yeah, our first bulk order. I remember that lady actually. Yeah. Poor thing. It was this lady. Super, super nice. I took the call and she ordered it wasn’t even that large of an order. I think he was like, it was our largest order to date. It was at the time at the time. Yes.

37:17
So I think it was like 10 dozen. It was like several hundred dollars or something like that. Yeah. It was like at the time I think it was ten dollars, a ten dozen napkins plus placemats, plus towels, plus cocktail napkins. And I took the order over the phone and we used to pack. We used to pack. Do you remember we used to pack our packages, but we didn’t go through the product. Plus we just shoved everything in the. We just shoved everything in the box.

37:47
And we didn’t really go through the product that carefully. And so I remember, and at that time we didn’t have an inspector, like we weren’t getting our products inspected. We just kind of just like, I just recounted that I opened the package and recounted and just shoved in a box. didn’t even, we didn’t even package it nicely. And then the lady was so nice. didn’t complain because I had a huge conversation about this was our business and I was doing it out of our house. And, but I’m like,

38:16
You told her all that stuff? Yes, at the time, you know, we just had such a lovely conversation and the lady was so nice that she didn’t say how bad the product she didn’t complain. I kid you not. I still cringe at probably what we shipped her because it was probably really, really bad at the time. You know what else I think about? So early on in my engineering career, I got an offer at Nvidia. Yes.

38:44
I think to leave and it was that Nvidia’s all-time low stock price. It was like 11 or 12 bucks. Yes, and this is back in the year 2000. I want to say or 1999 or 2000. I it had to be later than that. Was it 2001? It was early on because I think we’re already married. think we were married. Yeah, we were already married. oh no, we were already married. It was before it was after we were married. Okay, so 2003 or 2004. Okay. Anyways, this is it was a good offer.

39:13
And I was gonna take it. Yes. And there was like a lot of stock, which would be worth a ton of money today. But no, I decided to stay at the company out of loyalty. Yes. And I think about myself, I wouldn’t have had to me to take that offer. Yes. You did want me to take that? did. I didn’t know that. Yes. Why didn’t you say anything? Because you loved your co workers so much. I wasn’t gonna tell you. I didn’t want it like

39:41
Influence you like you were happy with your job At your old company, so I wasn’t going to say anything I was pushing for Nvidia because it was such a offer and then it’s I think about it now and I’m like I was doing the math. I think we’d be So much richer. I think we probably three three to four X richer Yes, I think our lifestyle would be different

40:07
It would, I’d be still be working every day. You’d still be working. You’d be at home. I’d be at home doing nothing. And then I wouldn’t have any of this stuff that we have. I would be working. Nvidia has a reputation for working people really hard. So I probably wouldn’t be at home as much. Correct. It would be merely me doing everything. Yeah. So I guess I’m happy I didn’t take it because it led to this. I’m happy that

40:33
You wanted to quit your job. I’m happy that you hated your job. Yeah, I guess it all works out. It all worked out. Even though I was really skeptical the whole time. It’s skeptical about? I didn’t think that we were going to make that much money that first. Oh, no, I didn’t think. Do you remember our goal? was $5,000 a month. Our goal was $5,000 a month. Yeah. And we would have been thrilled. I would have been thrilled with that. All let me ask you You were the one that was like, okay, we have to have a higher goal. At least replace your salary.

41:04
Well, initially wasn’t even to replace my goals were always like driving you nuts. Yeah. All right. So how should we wrap this up? Okay. Let’s let’s try to be a little bit more inspirational because we were talking about how you didn’t want to do this and how well people out there listening for you know, I am extremely thankful for the lifestyle that we have. I feel like if I didn’t have this, if we didn’t have the business, we wouldn’t have this lifestyle. Either

41:34
we would be both working like crazy or our priorities would probably be different. In what way? What I mean by that is like if I, if we didn’t have the business, I think our focus would still be the family, but I probably would either be working and I wouldn’t be able to have such a flexible time or you would be working like crazy and you wouldn’t be around as much for the family.

42:04
So would that have been okay with you? No, of course not. I love the fact that we’re here for the kids as much as we are. Both of us. I don’t think they realize how unusual it is. They don’t. Right. They don’t. We like to tell them and remind them, but I don’t think they really realize it because I mean, even if they look at their friends’ parents, like, I don’t think they realize how much we do. Yeah. All right. Any words of advice for people listening out there?

42:34
I get you know, I get a lot of people who want to start a family and then they reach out to me going, hey, you know, I want I want your lifestyle or they already have kids. And they say, hey, I want to do this. I’m tired. I want to be at home with the kids. What would you tell these people? I think a lot of it is take action. Because if you keep on delaying it, you’re never going to do it. You just need to take some step to make it happen. Even if it’s a small step, because I see a lot of your students

43:05
that are really excited to start something. But if you ask them, they get caught up in all these little details that they don’t actually take any forward movement. Let me ask you a different question. And I’ve always wondered if I wasn’t around and you know how I handle all the tech stuff and whatnot, right? Would you still have gone this route or would you have gone a different route? What do mean? Econ versus something else? I would still do econ. You would still do e-commerce? Yeah.

43:35
Okay. But I probably be on Shopify. Shopify wasn’t around when we got started. Oh, I know. But I mean, just saying. It was hard when we got started. Yes, was nothing available. What I’m saying is, so I thought you said, wait, ask me the question again. We’re gonna start a business all over again. And you were the one who was spearheading whole thing while I was off working. I’m just curious, would you still because we had other business ideas at the time, right? You’ve still got e commerce or I know it’s hard to answer that question. But

44:04
part of the, like you didn’t worry about anything technical, right? So I’m curious, like, I would I would stick to eBay or something. Oh, you would stick to eBay. Oh, that makes sense. Yeah. We did, we did do a lot of eBay. Okay. So in the very beginning, I probably would have just kept with eBay. Yeah. Anyway, the reason why I’m asking that question is because people listening are sometimes afraid of the tech and I know you’re not really, you’re tech savvy for sure, but I wouldn’t say you’re a technical person. Correct.

44:34
I do think that we definitely have a leg up because you do know a lot of the technical stuff, but I also think there’s a lot of different e-commerce sites that people can use nowadays that would make it easier for everyday people. They wouldn’t do what we’ve done. They would pay money for it. They would pay money. But I do think, you know, sometimes when you talk about your students and, you know, it’s very obvious some people are not technical. Yeah.

45:03
I think some people should just go with the easier solution versus try to save the money. I almost always think that people should go with the easier solution, right? Because even if you’re confident about tech, like you see me, but my personality is like, I’ll struggle with a problem for weeks. And that’s all I think about until I find the solution. Well, yeah, lot of you also wouldn’t pay for a subscription. That’s true. Yes. Like you rather own everything. Like you would rather pay money.

45:33
a one-time fee, then have a reoccurring subscription. Right. And statistically, I actually enjoy this maintenance stuff. You do? Yeah. You get excited. I mean, you’re actually the most excited during that time. Even though it’s a pain in the ass to do certain things, you get excited. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess you just got to figure out what you’re excited about. But what would your answer be? What, if we were to do e-comm back in the day? Yeah. Of course, e-comm. It’d be something technical.

46:03
Okay. Or like maybe we wouldn’t have worked together. Maybe I would have just started like a SaaS company or something. I don’t know. I don’t think you would have been interested in doing a SaaS company back Back then SaaS wasn’t around. wasn’t popular. Yeah. That’s true. Yeah. I don’t know. It’s all behind us now. I mean, we chose e-comm. I think, I still think that e-comm is the right decision for a lot of people who want to make money sooner rather than later. Or service business. Or service business. And

46:33
If you have a runway, content has been fantastic for us. You’re not really that involved in the content side of stuff, but content is is the lowest maintenance, I think. Yeah. It just takes forever. Well, yeah. I mean, I, be honest with you, like when you first decided to do the blog, I was like, don’t understand it. Right. But now, I mean, now I do. But back then I was like, people would be interested in seeing what you write about. Like that was

47:03
I guess I’m like your mom in that regard, you know? Yeah. I actually, remember the, the, the milestone on the blog. made $46 in one day. Yes. You were super excited. super, was like, Oh, this keeps up. Yeah. This can cover the mortgage. Yeah. Yeah. Good times. Good times. Anyway. Uh, okay. So let’s wrap this up. Uh, if you guys are listening, we, it’s clear that we didn’t plan this episode.

47:32
We don’t have a script or anything. just kind of chatting. We chat a lot, but there are always some questions that I don’t get a chance to ask my wife just in everyday conversation. So it’s actually nice that we’re recording this podcast so I can actually ask some of these questions. I didn’t get the answers that I expected to get. Like which one? Well, like what do you plan on doing five years? I don’t want to do this business anymore. I think you kind of knew that though. I think we’re going to always have the business to be honest with you. Really? You don’t think we’re going to sell it?

48:01
No, I don’t think so. I think you enjoy and you need it for the content, your content. I think we might phase me out completely by hiring someone. Yeah. But I don’t think we would sell it. Yeah. I mean, the store is really a content goldmine. Right. All right. Well, that’s, that’s it for episode 500. I hope you guys didn’t think we rambled too much. I think we did. If you have any questions for my wife, like if any of you guys out there are having kids or whatnot and

48:31
and you want to talk to the less technical half, I guess, of this team, the ones who’s more operations focused and whatnot, feel free to send me an email and I’ll make sure that my wife gets it. Hope you enjoyed that episode. I still can’t believe that I recorded 500 shows and that my wife has put up with me for over 20 years. For more information about this episode, go to mywebcoderjob.com slash episode 500.

48:59
And once again, tickets to the Seller Summit 2024 are now on sale over at sellersummit.com. If you want to hang out in person in a small intimate setting, develop real relationships with like-minded entrepreneurs and learn a ton, then come to my event. Go to sellersummit.com. And if you are interested in starting your own e-commerce store, head on over to mywifequarterjob.com and sign up for my free six-day mini course. Just type in your email and ascending the course right away. Thanks for listening.