381: The One Strategy That Helped Me Make My First Million Dollars

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You’re listening to the My Wife, Quit Her Job podcast, the place where I bring on successful bootstrap business owners and dig deep into what strategies they use to grow their businesses. And today I’m doing another solo episode to talk about money philosophy in a series that I’m calling Chu Fushis says, which is named after the famous Chinese philosopher. Now my solo episodes continue to do very well. So I’m going to sprinkle them in from time to time along with the interviews. And in this episode, I’m going to talk about a very simple principle that when implemented,

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will fundamentally change your life. And in fact, once I started doing this, I quit my job and made my first million dollars. But before I begin, I want to thank Klaviyo for sponsoring this episode. Now I’m super excited to talk about Klaviyo because they’re the email marketing platform that I personally use for my e-commerce store. And it depend on them for over 30 % of my revenue. Now you’re probably wondering why Klaviyo and not another provider. Well, they’re the only email platform out there that is specifically built for e-commerce stores. And here’s why it’s so powerful.

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Klaviyo can track every single customer who has shopped in your store and exactly what they bought. So let’s say I want to send out an email to everyone who purchased a red handkerchief in the last week. Easy. Let’s say I want to set up a special autoresponder sequence to my customers depending on what they bought, piece of cake, and there is full revenue tracking on every single email sent. Klaviyo is the most powerful email platform that I’ve ever used, and you can try them for free over at klaviyo.com slash my wife. That’s K-L-A-V-I-Y-O dot com slash my wife.

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I also want to thank Postscript for sponsoring this episode. Now, if you run an e-commerce business of any kind, you know how important it is to own your own customer contact list. And this is why I’m focusing a significant amount of my efforts on SMS marketing. SMS or text message marketing is already a top five revenue source from my e-commerce store. And I couldn’t have done it without Postscript, which is my text message provider. Now, why did I choose Postscript? It’s because they specialize in e-commerce and e-commerce is their primary focus.

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Not only is it easy to use, but you can quickly segment your audience based on your exact sales data and implement automated flows like an abandoned cart at the push of a button. Not only that, but it’s price well too and SMS is the perfect way to engage with your customers. So head on over to postscript.io slash Steve and try it for free. That’s P O S T S C R I P T dot I O slash Steve. And then finally, I wanted to mention a podcast that I recently released with my partner, Tony. And unlike this podcast where I interview successful entrepreneurs in e-commerce,

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the Profitable Audience Podcast covers all things related to content creation and building an audience. No topic is off the table and we tell it like how it is in a raw and entertaining way. So be sure to check out the Profitable Audience Podcast on your favorite podcast app. Now onto the show.

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Welcome to the My Wife Could Her Job podcast. In this episode, I’m gonna talk about a very simple principle that you can apply that will drastically improve your life. And in fact, when I discovered it, I was able to quit my job and make my first million dollars with my businesses. Now I’m a self-motivated person and an independent thinker, but I’ve discovered over the years that my actions are directly shaped by the people that I see the most. So for example, when I hang out with someone who goes out all the time,

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I go out all the time. When I hang out with someone who is fat and out of shape, I become fat and out of shape. And when I hang out with someone who is fiercely driven to succeed, I’m motivated to succeed. Now, even my wants, my needs, and my desires are heavily influenced by my peer group. So for example, before I started my two online businesses, the Steve that just graduated from college wanted to start a high tech startup company that would go public and make millions.

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I wanted to drive an Audi A4 Turbo. I wanted to buy a gigantic house in Palo Alto where all my friends could crash and throw parties. I also wanted to own all the latest computer equipment and gadgets as soon as they came out. But looking back, why did I actually want those specific things? Well, I wanted to work at a hot startup company because that’s what all of my friends were doing. It was the cool thing to do. I wanted to drive an Audi A4.

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because it was the dream car of a girl that I liked back in college and she would have been pretty impressed. Now I wanted to live in Palo Alto because it’s where my friends wanted to live. And I wanted to own all the latest gadgets because my friends are geeks and love tech. Now I’m not a follower or a lemming, but once I realized this about my personality, I made some very simple changes that drastically improved my life. So this podcast is going to be about my story.

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First off, I want to say that I’m blessed to have very successful friends who have propelled me forward at different stages of my life. Now during my high school years, I hung out with a bunch of geeks who really cared about getting good grades. So I got good grades and I got into Stanford University. And then at Stanford, I was surrounded by other successful and driven kids, which pushed me to pursue a career in electrical engineering. Now the hard part is finding the right people to push you in the direction you want to go at your specific stage in life.

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And if you’re feeling stuck, chances are that your current peer group is probably the wrong fit. So for example, it took me about 20 years to realize that my immediate friend group from Stanford was not the right group for me in terms of starting my own small business. After all, here in the Silicon Valley where I live, it’s all about funded startups. Hey Steve, I just raised 10 million bucks at a 50 million post. Steve, I’m pulling 80 hour weeks right now, but my company is on the cusp of a huge payout.

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Hey Steve, I can’t wait to tell you about what I’m working on. It is the next big thing. Well, when I graduated from college, I thought that I wanted to start a venture-backed startup because all my friends were starting their own companies. And what happened was, is that my friends desires became a model of my own. Now as humans, we tend to imitate what our peer group wants because it becomes a symbol of success among your community. Now I noticed this recently during the pandemic that all my friends were remodeling their houses.

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Now, is that a coincidence? Is it a coincidence that all of my friends own a Tesla? Well, here’s the thing, we all want what our close friends want. Now, when you surround yourself with like-minded peers, you start subconsciously competing with each other and wanting the same things. Now, it’s a little bit twisted, but sometimes we need our friends to want something first in order to want it for ourselves. If you don’t have a peer group to model yourself after,

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your motivation will slowly start to drift. So for example, when my wife and I first started our handkerchief business, none of our friends thought anything of it. They didn’t think it was cool and many questioned whether the business was worth our time. And now why is that? Well, it’s because my Stanford friends were too busy taking venture money to start the next billion dollar company. Including a lifestyle business to spend more time with family did not interest them one bit. And granted,

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HankerChirps is not sexy, but small business, not interesting. So as a result, my wife and I considered shutting down our business on several occasions because starting a hanky business wasn’t cool within our peer group. Now I’m really happy that my wife and I stuck with our business, but it was actually an extremely lonely process. And we didn’t have anyone to share our successes and our failures with. I also had a similar experience with mywifequitterjob.com. I remember at the time, this was 2009, none of my friends believed

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that blogging could possibly make any money. So they regarded my blog as just a fun hobby and a passing fad. Yo Steve, how’s blogging going? Make any money yet? Well, early on, my blog did struggle to generate traffic. And I was actually fairly close to quitting until I attended my first in-person conference called FinCon. It was actually at FinCon where I met a few key people who fundamentally changed my way of thinking. Immediately,

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After attending FinCon, I became more motivated than ever to succeed. I met people to share my successes and failures with, and I learned new strategies to apply to my own businesses. And in fact, my FinCon peer group was responsible for turning Bumble Bee Linens and mywifecoderjob.com into the seven figure businesses that they are today. Now, how do you find your own version of FinCon? Well, you’re going to want to follow these steps to make forward progress with your business. So the first thing that you should do,

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is to hang out or follow successful people. Now, the hardest part of this process is realizing that you’ve outgrown your current peer group and that you need to make new friends. Heck, it took me over a decade to realize that I needed new people in my life. And if you find that your friends and your family aren’t being supportive, or if they’re constantly questioning your actions, well, it’s time to make new friends. For example, if you are determined to get into better shape and lose weight,

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then don’t hang out with friends who are constantly inviting you to get dessert or boba tea. Now, thanks to social media and the internet, it’s actually easier than ever to find like-minded people with your same goals and aspirations. Do a Google search, use Instagram or start watching TikToks, go on YouTube to find people who inspire you. Then, break down what they’re doing in their daily lives to achieve the life that you want to achieve. For example, I’m into tennis and I follow the TPA Tennis YouTube channel,

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because I want to learn the exact techniques the pros use to become better tennis players. People follow mywifecooderjob.com because they want to learn how to spend more time with their family and their loved ones. Now, my readers and listeners have no desire to start the next billion dollar company or work their butts off at the expense of family and friends. They want to earn enough money to give them the freedom to do whatever they want, whenever they want. And even though following people virtually through social media is a great start,

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much better way to meet your people is by attending in-person events.

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If you sell on Amazon or run any online business for that matter, the most important aspect of your long-term success will be your brand. And this is why I work with Steven Weigler and his team from Emerge Council to protect my brand over at Bumblebee Linens. Now what’s unique about Emerge Council is that Steve focuses his legal practice on e-commerce and provides strategic and legal representation to entrepreneurs to protect their IP. So for example, if you’ve ever been ripped off or knocked off on Amazon, then Steve can help you fight back and protect yourself.

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Now, first and foremost, protecting our IP starts with a solid trademark and Emerge Council provides attorney-advised strategic trademark prosecution, both in the United States and abroad for a very low price. And furthermore, the students in my course have used Steve for copyrighting their designs, policing against counterfeits and knockoffs, agreements with co-founders and employees, website and social media policies, privacy policies, vendor agreements, brand registry, you name it. So if you need IP protection services, go to EmergeCouncil.com and get a free consult.

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And if you tell Steve that I sent you, you’ll get a hundred dollar discount. That’s E-M-E-R-G-E-C-O-U-N-S-E-L.com. Now back to the show. So over the years, I’ve actually met most of my close friends through conferences like the Seller Summit, FinCon, Social Media Marketing World, Ecommerce Fuel, and a bunch of others. And most of you don’t know this, but I actually started this podcast for the sole purpose of meeting new people.

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And by running an interview based show, I’m actually forced to chat with someone new for one hour every single week. Incidentally, if you want to meet people running six, seven or eight figure e-commerce businesses, consider attending my annual e-commerce conference, The Seller Summit. Now, once you’ve found a group of like-minded people, form a mastermind group. A mastermind is a cohort of three, six people that meet on a regular basis to hold each other accountable for making forward progress, to bounce ideas off one another,

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and to motivate each other to take calculated risks. And ideally, every member of your mastermind group should share the same goals and desires so you can psychologically push each other forward. Now, over the years, I’ve actually belonged to many different mastermind groups and they’ve all been instrumental in pushing me out of my comfort zone. In fact, just the mere presence of other successful people will inspire you to take action. After all, we are all heavily influenced by our peers.

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and you’ll find yourself subconsciously imitating greatness. You’ll find yourself breaking through artificial barriers that have been in your head this entire time. So for example, I never thought in a million years that I could create a seven figure business without hiring a large team. But once I saw my friends doing it, I knew that it was possible with the right systems in place. Now the fastest way to grow is to just talk with someone who has been there before. Now, after you found your people,

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Do not get carried away. As I mentioned earlier, a byproduct of surrounding yourself with successful people is that you’ll start wanting the same things and it’s easy to get caught up in the competition. Now, even though I love my small business entrepreneur friends, they sometimes push me beyond where I want to be. So for example, I have several colleagues in the e-commerce space who are just killing it online. They set a great set of goals, work their butts off, and they’re all rewarded with great success and money. However,

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They don’t have kids, a family, or similar priorities that I do. The goal of running my businesses has always been to spend more time with my loved ones. But deep down, I actually want to achieve the same levels of success as my peers. And there have been times where I’ve been guilty of trying to keep up with them by sacrificing my health and my friendships just to make more money. Now, there’s no such thing as the perfect peer group or the perfect mastermind.

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And you’re just going to have to distinguish between your true needs and your true wants. Now, when it comes to my businesses, I have to constantly remind myself that I already make more money than I spend. My businesses are a tool to spend more time with family. Making more money will not make me happier and I can already buy anything that I want. Busting my butt to make more money than my peers is not a good use of my time or my brain power. So bottom line.

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you have to understand your true desires and your true purpose. Is your purpose in starting a business just to make money? Or is it to provide you with the freedom to do whatever you want? Do not get caught up in the competition. Now, the single most important change that you can make to propel your business forward is to find the right peer group. And it’s been over a decade now since I started my first business, but I will never forget how lonely it felt. After all, it’s hard enough

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to start a business from complete scratch with no experience. But if your friends and your family are talking you down at the same time, it makes it much more difficult. Jim Rohn once famously said that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And when it comes to relationships, we are greatly influenced by those who are closest to us. We want what our friends want, we want what our friends own, and we want what our friends have achieved. So if you spend time with deadbeat friends,

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who aren’t going anywhere in life, well, guess what? You won’t get anywhere either. But if you find people who want what you want or have achieved what you want to achieve, you will feel energized. You’ll gain confidence, you’ll feel motivated, and then you can use this energy to propel yourself forward. So I want you to follow these steps right now. Take a Google Doc and make two lists. List number one should contain friends or influencers who are living a life that you want to live.

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Meanwhile, list number two should contain people who are holding you back from your goals or people who are just giving you negative energy about what you’re doing. Now you don’t have to completely ditch the people on list number two, but you need to distance yourself from excessive negativity. Meanwhile, find out where list number one hangs out and meet as many like-minded people as you can in person. Then with these people that you meet, form a mastermind group, meet regularly,

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And I can almost guarantee that will transform your life and your business success. Hope you enjoyed that episode. Now, my solo episodes always take a long time for me to put together, but I’m always open to feedback. Do you agree or disagree with what I’ve said? Feel free to send me email at steve at mywifecoupterjob.com or just DM me on Twitter. More information about this episode, go to mywifecoupterjob.com slash episode 381. And once again, I want to thank Postscript, which is my SMS marketing platform of choice for e-commerce.

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With a few clicks of a button, you can easily segment and send targeted text messages to your client base. is the next big own marketing platform, and you can sign up for free over at postscript.io slash steve. That’s P-O-S-T-S-E-R-I-P-T dot I-O slash steve. I also want to thank Klaviyo, which is my email marketing platform of choice for ecommerce merchants. You can easily put together automated flows like an abandon card sequence, a post purchase flow, a win back campaign, basically all these sequences that will make you money on autopilot.

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So head on over to mywifequitterjob.com slash KLAVIO. Once again, that’s mywifequitterjob.com slash KLAVIO. Now I talk about how I use these tools on my blog, and if you are interested in starting your own eCommerce store, head on over to mywifequitterjob.com and sign up for my free six day mini course. Just type in your email and I’ll send you the course right away. Thanks for listening.