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Envision

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Small Update:

The warehouse is coming along, layout is done and I think we will be under budget and I cant remember if I already said the SBA approved my loan at committee. It's going to be 41k sq ft, have a 5k sq ft gym, cafe, 30k sq ft of warehouse and glass offices with a creative lab and zoom rooms. My cost per square foot is going to be around $150 when its all said and done and the current market is going at around $200.

The storage facility is finally underway. Ill have to get some photos more and more as demo goes on. We value engineered the building and were able to add 400 units (~1300 total). It's now a 12M project with a 32% IRR. Ridiculous, they're doing another raise since the project cost increased (along with the return) and I am going increase my portion open to me which is about 1/3 of the total raise (1M).

Expected cash on cash return in 3 years is 130%+ and the cash flow for my portion post stabilization is going to be somewhere around 150-200k/yr.
 

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Here's another update:

- The warehouse is going to take longer than expected, due to the cities requirements and the developer selling the land. I have to wait till May of next year to get the lot split and sold to me and then it will take another 16 months to build from start to finish.

In the mean time im going to get a lease, I was looking at buying but the selection in my market is not good - prices are insane and quality is low. As my income has increased I need to find large assets that I can cost segregate to lower my tax burden.

My tax bill is looking to be somewhere around $1M this year. How i am going to try and work through this is by buying more storage facilities and using bonus depreciation through cost seg studies to try and get my tax burden cut in half or as low as possible.

Brand 1: Will hit 1M/mo this month. We have 15 employees and we're just really crushing everything right now. It's probably the most fun and also most stressful time ive ever had.
Brand 2: Im listing with Quiet Light in the next week or two. Im just not paying attention to it and the structure of the partnership doesnt yield a good deal.
Real Estate: Im going to start hunting storage facilities that can be cost segged and hopefully get something going before the end of the year to save on taxes.
 

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Brand 1: Will hit 1M/mo this month. We have 15 employees and we're just really crushing everything right now. It's probably the most fun and also most stressful time ive ever had.
Amazing!
Seems like you're heading to the moon with this business.
Keep firing ahead, and please do keep the updates coming.
 
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Here's another update:

- The warehouse is going to take longer than expected, due to the cities requirements and the developer selling the land. I have to wait till May of next year to get the lot split and sold to me and then it will take another 16 months to build from start to finish.

In the mean time im going to get a lease, I was looking at buying but the selection in my market is not good - prices are insane and quality is low. As my income has increased I need to find large assets that I can cost segregate to lower my tax burden.

My tax bill is looking to be somewhere around $1M this year. How i am going to try and work through this is by buying more storage facilities and using bonus depreciation through cost seg studies to try and get my tax burden cut in half or as low as possible.

Brand 1: Will hit 1M/mo this month. We have 15 employees and we're just really crushing everything right now. It's probably the most fun and also most stressful time ive ever had.
Brand 2: Im listing with Quiet Light in the next week or two. Im just not paying attention to it and the structure of the partnership doesnt yield a good deal.
Real Estate: Im going to start hunting storage facilities that can be cost segged and hopefully get something going before the end of the year to save on taxes.

First of all, great thread and to see your progress.

Curious. Why is warehouse taking 16 months to build? We usually get our industrial buildings up and done in 10 months flat (after permits, construction schedule only).
 

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Here's another update:

- The warehouse is going to take longer than expected, due to the cities requirements and the developer selling the land. I have to wait till May of next year to get the lot split and sold to me and then it will take another 16 months to build from start to finish.

In the mean time im going to get a lease, I was looking at buying but the selection in my market is not good - prices are insane and quality is low. As my income has increased I need to find large assets that I can cost segregate to lower my tax burden.

My tax bill is looking to be somewhere around $1M this year. How i am going to try and work through this is by buying more storage facilities and using bonus depreciation through cost seg studies to try and get my tax burden cut in half or as low as possible.

Brand 1: Will hit 1M/mo this month. We have 15 employees and we're just really crushing everything right now. It's probably the most fun and also most stressful time ive ever had.
Brand 2: Im listing with Quiet Light in the next week or two. Im just not paying attention to it and the structure of the partnership doesnt yield a good deal.
Real Estate: Im going to start hunting storage facilities that can be cost segged and hopefully get something going before the end of the year to save on taxes.

Congrats on your hard work paying off.

1. In my area, self-storage is saturated but then we have other developers with deep pockets come in and put up yet 'ANOTHER STORAGE' facility. When will it end?

2. What kinda LTV financing are you getting these days from Banks...when i was a commercial appraiser, developers were begging banks for loans and they would hesitantly lend our 65-70%. What are you guys getting? What kinda LTV are you getting on Construction loans these days?

Thanks for your input...`
 

Envision

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Congrats on your hard work paying off.

1. In my area, self-storage is saturated but then we have other developers with deep pockets come in and put up yet 'ANOTHER STORAGE' facility. When will it end?

2. What kinda LTV financing are you getting these days from Banks...when i was a commercial appraiser, developers were begging banks for loans and they would hesitantly lend our 65-70%. What are you guys getting? What kinda LTV are you getting on Construction loans these days?

Thanks for your input...`

Alot of people dont understand the economics of storage, so there is a lot of dumb money financing facilities and building them because they think its easy.

My conversion project is in the downtown area right on a freeway exit, 1200 units, in the fastest growing city in the country. Nobody can build next to me because the city doesnt allow storage there, the building was previously zoned in the same zoning code as storage when it was a newspaper facility.

I wouldn't necessarily build without doing research and getting a market analysis and having a competitive advantage.
 
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Envision

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Just an update,

The cities are backed up and also have a lot of morons in them. On top of that construction where i live is booming so you need to get into schedule. Ive pulled back on that development.

Under contract on:

30k sq ft warehouse that the owner is seller financing to me for $4.2M
60k sq ft warehouse that im going to buy with an sba loan for $8M.

That happened in the past couple weeks, we will see.
 

Envision

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On pace to do $2M this month and we are absolutely murdering this year.

My team will surpass 20 in the coming 2 weeks and Im stilling hiring like crazy, my biggest challenge is finding people with experience in ecommerce+ops+marketing that can add value at the scale we're at. I've been really gunning after people at the larger companies - Nike/UA/Puma to try and get them to join our team.

Real estate wise Im submitted to the SBA for the larger project and thats tracking to close in December and same with the other property.

Im finalizing a brand that I plan to launch under the umbrella of everything im doing and kind of consolidating the ecommerce and real estate under a holdings company that manages and operates everything.

Love this time of the year, so many move parts and challenges but all good things.
 

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Hey man, those are some good questions and I think about the situation a lot. I think it comes down to free time and what you're filling it with. I don't have free time because I am always working on progressing in one of the categories you've mentioned but that doesn't mean one of those categories detracts from the other, i've worked it out into a way where they don't interfere with one another and in some cases benefit each other. For example,

-My job pays for half of my tuition, I am full time and get a full time salary, even though I can leave and go to class.

-When I need a contractor to work on one of my properties I use the same contractors that I use for the RE firm Im the VP in and I get priority treatment because of how much work I bring them.

My salary from the ecom business and VPO position look really good to banks when looking for financing for new properties.

As for the VPO position, I've essentially climbed to the top of the company already and any future growth would come in under me. When it comes to the Ecomm business, im too reliant on a couple of sales channels and I would rather reinvest back into the business than have to live off of the income I produce.

I'm in college just to get the peice of paper man but I'm also thinking long term about it as well, most of the stuff we discuss in class I've already taught myself or I'll literally never use in my life. Im fine with that, but I might even get my MBA because one day I will most likely create an investment firm myself and when I'm raising money or working with banks, or whatever the case may be I'll have the credentials but also the track record to get funding, investors, partners, etc. I also want to get it done now before prices get even more crazy (i only have one year left in my undergrad).

Just a side note on the college thing that I've observed - the stats are against the college argument, getting a degree IS PROVEN on average to make you more successful in life than not getting one. Everyone who speaks out against it actually has one - Tai Lopez, Gary V, Grant Cardone, Peter Theil... They may say it's a waste of time and you shouldnt do it but then you have to ask yourself would they be where they are today without it? No doubt they'd all be successful, but would they be where they are today?

What I HATE about college is the racket that's been created to screw students with student loan debt. The government backs the loans essentially allowing schools to raise prices astronomically and they saddle the student with the burden in a stage where the student doesn't understand or care YET about what they're doing to their future.

I won't have that issue, I wont have any debt and Ill have the degree just a couple years later than my friends who have -60k and got their "college experience"
If the degree is costing you nothing then you might as well finish it ,atleast you will have something to put on the wall in your office. Banks only want to look at the ROI doubt they would ever want to see your degree
 
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Envision

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First of all, great thread and to see your progress.

Curious. Why is warehouse taking 16 months to build? We usually get our industrial buildings up and done in 10 months flat (after
We have insane demand for contractors here and the cities are backed up.

It has a little value, I mentioned it in my SBA application. But yeah, my banker called me two weeks ago and asked me if I had a degree and I told him yes. He didn't realize I had gotten it while building my company.

For my local bank, I'm their largest client - when you pass a certain number they know you, they don't care about your education. You've proved yourself.
 

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atleast you will have something to put on the wall in your office.

That would probably be the least impressive thing I would put on my office wall LOL.

My degree has been in a manilla folder in a file cabinet since the day I got it.
 

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That would probably be the least impressive thing I would put on my office wall LOL.

My degree has been in a manilla folder in a file cabinet since the day I got it.
At least you actually got your degree. My college wants me to pay to get mine mailed to me. NOPE.
 
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Envision

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That would probably be the least impressive thing I would put on my office wall LOL.

My degree has been in a manilla folder in a file cabinet since the day I got it.

I have the original overhead blueprint of the facility that we're converting to self storage framed along with some other cool souvenirs from deals and accomplishments that go on the wall. I actually dont know where my degree is lol. Probably filed away somewhere
 

Envision

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Well what a whirlwind of events.

On December 10th the SBA rejected my application for my $8M purchase of our 60k sq ft distribution center.

This was mainly due to the debenture company not providing enough detail to the SBA. I had to close before the end of the year and this really screwed me because I was 100k hard on the purchase and had spent 30k in due diligence.

Myself and my banker moved extremely quickly to resubmit the app and we actually rewrote the whole application to provide the detail and clarity needed to show the SBA why I need this size of a building. The issue was their reviewing time with the holiday. My 100k was going hard the 24th and the SBA takes about 2 weeks to provide feedback. We went 25k/100k hard immediately to extend from the 24th to the 27th...

On the 20-24th I was realizing the SBA wasnt going to get back to us in time so I started to reach out to capital groups to see who could potentially come in as the financing to not lose the deal. Tons of conversations and meetings but nothing was really working out. Tons of firms were interested, the property has instant equity but the terms to me sucked.

Come the 27th, I forfeited the deal because I didnt have the SBA approval despite having everything else in place I didnt want to risk any more money than I had already lost and risk getting another rejection.

Started looking at leases and the property was relisted on the market for 500k more than I was buying it for..

2 days later.. On the 29th, the SBA called my banker and told us we had approval. No questions, no concerns, a complete and total approval. But I was out of contract. We called everyone and turned everything back around and moved extremely quickly to get everything pulled back together.

I signed and closed yesterday on this building. It will allow my company to scale into the high 8 and soon to be 9 figures based on the sheer ability to hold and distribute product. The equity appreciation over the next 5-10 years will likely double and its a win win all around.

That was the most stressful and intense transaction Ive ever done with every emotion thats possible to feel being felt. Just glad it turned out and everything went according to plan.

Never give up.
 
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biophase

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Well what a whirlwind of events.

On December 10th the SBA rejected my application for my $8M purchase of our 60k sq ft distribution center.

This was mainly due to the debenture company not providing enough detail to the SBA. I had to close before the end of the year and this really screwed me because I was 100k hard on the purchase and had spent 30k in due diligence.

Myself and my banker moved extremely quickly to resubmit the app and we actually rewrote the whole application to provide the detail and clarity needed to show the SBA why I need this size of a building. The issue was their reviewing time with the holiday. My 100k was going hard the 24th and the SBA takes about 2 weeks to provide feedback. We went 25k/100k hard immediately to extend from the 24th to the 27th...

On the 20-24th I was realizing the SBA wasnt going to get back to us in time so I started to reach out to capital groups to see who could potentially come in as the financing to not lose the deal. Tons of conversations and meetings but nothing was really working out. Tons of firms were interested, the property has instant equity but the terms to me sucked.

Come the 27th, I forfeited the deal because I didnt have the SBA approval despite having everything else in place I didnt want to risk any more money than I had already lost and risk getting another rejection.

Started looking at leases and the property was relisted on the market for 500k more than I was buying it for..

2 days later.. On the 29th, the SBA called my banker and told us we had approval. No questions, no concerns, a complete and total approval. But I was out of contract. We called everyone and turned everything back around and moved extremely quickly to get everything pulled back together.

I signed and closed yesterday on this building. It will allow my company to scale into the high 8 and soon to be 9 figures based on the sheer ability to hold and distribute product. The equity appreciation over the next 5-10 years will likely double and its a win win all around.

That was the most stressful and intense transaction Ive ever done with every emotion thats possible to feel being felt. Just glad it turned out and everything went according to plan.

Never give up.

View attachment 41376View attachment 41377View attachment 41378
That's awesome. Must have been super stressful for the past few months!
 

Fox

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Well what a whirlwind of events.

On December 10th the SBA rejected my application for my $8M purchase of our 60k sq ft distribution center.

This was mainly due to the debenture company not providing enough detail to the SBA. I had to close before the end of the year and this really screwed me because I was 100k hard on the purchase and had spent 30k in due diligence.

Myself and my banker moved extremely quickly to resubmit the app and we actually rewrote the whole application to provide the detail and clarity needed to show the SBA why I need this size of a building. The issue was their reviewing time with the holiday. My 100k was going hard the 24th and the SBA takes about 2 weeks to provide feedback. We went 25k/100k hard immediately to extend from the 24th to the 27th...

On the 20-24th I was realizing the SBA wasnt going to get back to us in time so I started to reach out to capital groups to see who could potentially come in as the financing to not lose the deal. Tons of conversations and meetings but nothing was really working out. Tons of firms were interested, the property has instant equity but the terms to me sucked.

Come the 27th, I forfeited the deal because I didnt have the SBA approval despite having everything else in place I didnt want to risk any more money than I had already lost and risk getting another rejection.

Started looking at leases and the property was relisted on the market for 500k more than I was buying it for..

2 days later.. On the 29th, the SBA called my banker and told us we had approval. No questions, no concerns, a complete and total approval. But I was out of contract. We called everyone and turned everything back around and moved extremely quickly to get everything pulled back together.

I signed and closed yesterday on this building. It will allow my company to scale into the high 8 and soon to be 9 figures based on the sheer ability to hold and distribute product. The equity appreciation over the next 5-10 years will likely double and its a win win all around.

That was the most stressful and intense transaction Ive ever done with every emotion thats possible to feel being felt. Just glad it turned out and everything went according to plan.

Never give up.

View attachment 41376View attachment 41377View attachment 41378

Youre a machine!

Congrats man
 

WJK

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That would probably be the least impressive thing I would put on my office wall LOL.

My degree has been in a manilla folder in a file cabinet since the day I got it.
I hung my Juris Doctor degree over my sewing machine in my art studio. You sound equally impressed with yours.
 
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biophase

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I hung my Juris Doctor degree over my sewing machine in my art studio. You sound equally impressed with yours.
I think most of us on this forum know that a degree is just the beginning of life. In fact, now that I'm 50, I would say that it was getting a degree (not including the paying for it) probably the easiest part of life.

I mean if we just look at Envision's last post about his $8M warehouse. What was harder and more stressful, passing a bunch of hour exams and finals or trying to get a loan and almost losing $100k. You can't just go to the professor during office hours and ask for help. LOL
 

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Well what a whirlwind of events.

On December 10th the SBA rejected my application for my $8M purchase of our 60k sq ft distribution center.

This was mainly due to the debenture company not providing enough detail to the SBA. I had to close before the end of the year and this really screwed me because I was 100k hard on the purchase and had spent 30k in due diligence.

Myself and my banker moved extremely quickly to resubmit the app and we actually rewrote the whole application to provide the detail and clarity needed to show the SBA why I need this size of a building. The issue was their reviewing time with the holiday. My 100k was going hard the 24th and the SBA takes about 2 weeks to provide feedback. We went 25k/100k hard immediately to extend from the 24th to the 27th...

On the 20-24th I was realizing the SBA wasnt going to get back to us in time so I started to reach out to capital groups to see who could potentially come in as the financing to not lose the deal. Tons of conversations and meetings but nothing was really working out. Tons of firms were interested, the property has instant equity but the terms to me sucked.

Come the 27th, I forfeited the deal because I didnt have the SBA approval despite having everything else in place I didnt want to risk any more money than I had already lost and risk getting another rejection.

Started looking at leases and the property was relisted on the market for 500k more than I was buying it for..

2 days later.. On the 29th, the SBA called my banker and told us we had approval. No questions, no concerns, a complete and total approval. But I was out of contract. We called everyone and turned everything back around and moved extremely quickly to get everything pulled back together.

I signed and closed yesterday on this building. It will allow my company to scale into the high 8 and soon to be 9 figures based on the sheer ability to hold and distribute product. The equity appreciation over the next 5-10 years will likely double and its a win win all around.

That was the most stressful and intense transaction Ive ever done with every emotion thats possible to feel being felt. Just glad it turned out and everything went according to plan.

Never give up.

View attachment 41376View attachment 41377View attachment 41378
Massive congratulations!

I can’t believe you can buy at 60,000 sq ft warehouse for $8M! That’s like $133 per sq ft. Insane.

I sold our warehouse (~90,000 sq ft) space at well over $400 psf and it’s not in the city proper. Our real estate prices are insane. For now that’s good for me, but seeing your comp, I can’t help wonder “where?”.

Regardless, super happy for you. Love seeing such success stories here. True Fastlane. Happy New Year.

Edit: $133/sf correction
 
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I think most of us on this forum know that a degree is just the beginning of life. In fact, now that I'm 50, I would say that it was getting a degree (not including the paying for it) probably the easiest part of life.

I mean if we just look at Envision's last post about his $8M warehouse. What was harder and more stressful, passing a bunch of hour exams and finals or trying to get a loan and almost losing $100k. You can't just go to the professor during office hours and ask for help. LOL
I agree. Real-life can really be tough. And there are no "do-overs". You can't just re-do that situation like re-taking a test.

I went to law school when I was in my early 40s -- after my kids left home. During those years, I worked 50 to 60 hours a week in my career and I carried 9 grad units to get that degree. By the end of the first year, I knew I did NOT want to be an attorney. I finished the degree anyway. I use that education every day in my businesses.
 

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I dont think i posted this here but a couple weeks back I closed on the building we're currently in as well... about a week after the 60k.

I bought the 30k sq ft warehouse we're currently in from an older couple.

Seller financed deal, 10% down, 4% Fixed interest for 25 years. Pretty insane deal so I couldn't pass it up. The goal will be to re-lease this building when we move into the 60k and basically use it as a hedge against inflation and to continue establishing a real estate portfolio.

I've never spent a million dollars in a day before but thinking about these transactions and reviewing what was done at the end of the year that's what happened.

On the business side, this month was a bit lower than December but I think the rapid growth rate from holidays to new years isnt always sustainable... we're coming up on 30 employees, hiring an absolute wizard as our VP of supply chain and really getting our systems and processes down within the business and it really does feel like we're just getting started.

-------

Goals for this year.
Grow my company to 30MM.
Establish a true leadership team that can scale to 9 figures.
Acquire another 10MM in real estate (preferably industrial or a strip mall with an anchor grocery store)
 
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Envision

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I dont want to type alot, but figured id update this thread.

We're pacing 2.5-3M/mo
Looking to acquire a big competitor in the space, they are based in Europe so it makes it complex.
Hiring lots of people
Hired an executive coach to help me learn how to manage my growth to the next level.
Remodeling the warehouse as we speak, started demo, ordered gym/furniture etc.

All good though, 30 people total, tons of growth and wouldn't trade it for anything.
 

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Looking to acquire a big competitor in the space, they are based in Europe so it makes it complex.

I was thinking about this before - are you looking to expand to Europe (sounds like it), and if you do, how will you build the team up there?
 

Envision

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I was thinking about this before - are you looking to expand to Europe (sounds like it), and if you do, how will you build the team up there?
Sorry bro, didnt see this.

Yes, we will - I need to hire a director of international and the acquisition would mean I would bring the company into the US unless my CPAs/Attorneys say not to. The factory is based in Estonia and that would remain and operate as a subsidiary of my parent company. We would contract it for both brands and I would look to bring a second factory together with that knowledge to the US to vertically integrate my supply chains

To further clarify, its the acquisition of two companies collectively for ~10M - the factory and the brand they are operated separately in separate countries

Also mini update:

My leadership team is almost complete. I have our VP of Marketing and HR hired and we're looking for ops and performance marketing now. I also have an EA that is awesome she has really helped speed up my productivity

I started working on another brand im going to launch via FBA - I think with the resources at my disposal now I think I can launch into 100k/mo on amazon if I flood the sector im looking at so standing that up now as we speak.

Warehouse is almost complete - probably like 7 weeks out from being done. Funny enough the lot behind me is being firesold for roughly ~10M and it would fit a 120k sq ft warehouse so I am working on acquiring that lot/build as well.
 
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Fox

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Sorry bro, didnt see this.

Yes, we will - I need to hire a director of international and the acquisition would mean I would bring the company into the US unless my CPAs/Attorneys say not to. The factory is based in Estonia and that would remain and operate as a subsidiary of my parent company. We would contract it for both brands and I would look to bring a second factory together with that knowledge to the US to vertically integrate my supply chains

To further clarify, its the acquisition of two companies collectively for ~10M - the factory and the brand they are operated separately in separate countries

Also mini update:

My leadership team is almost complete. I have our VP of Marketing and HR hired and we're looking for ops and performance marketing now. I also have an EA that is awesome she has really helped speed up my productivity

I started working on another brand im going to launch via FBA - I think with the resources at my disposal now I think I can launch into 100k/mo on amazon if I flood the sector im looking at so standing that up now as we speak.

Warehouse is almost complete - probably like 7 weeks out from being done. Funny enough the lot behind me is being firesold for roughly ~10M and it would fit a 120k sq ft warehouse so I am working on acquiring that lot/build as well.

It will be really cool to see how that plays out, and congrats on the entrepreneur of the year award you won also!

"Funny enough the lot behind me is being firesold for roughly ~10M and it would fit a 120k sq ft warehouse so I am working on acquiring that lot/build as well."

How has the new warehouse changed the business - are things running faster or smoother with the new set-up?
 

Envision

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It will be really cool to see how that plays out, and congrats on the entrepreneur of the year award you won also!

"Funny enough the lot behind me is being firesold for roughly ~10M and it would fit a 120k sq ft warehouse so I am working on acquiring that lot/build as well."

How has the new warehouse changed the business - are things running faster or smoother with the new set-up?
Thanks man,

Initially not smooth at all - I had a pretty bad warehouse manager who pretty much ruined 90% of the warehouse staff. So they've all quit or ive fired them (about 10 total) now the team is awesome. I didnt realize how toxic the group had gotten. Moving forward, im just putting them on a warning and theyre gone after that.

Once the new WMS is implemented and we have full staffing its going to fly. Remodel is about 35% in and we still need about 10 more people to be fully staffed comfortably. But overall its allowed us to order more, given us way more space to grow, shown whos in and whos out. All around a good learning experience.
 

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