March 22, 2025 • 38 mins
In this full episode of the Franchise Freedom Podcast, Giuseppe Grammatico interviews David Restiano, the inspiring founder of Sorsoap! Hear the complete story from Sorsoap's shower-born idea to landing a deal with Mark Cuban on Shark Tank. Learn about building community, overcoming challenges, and the powerful advice David has for aspiring business owners. This episode is packed with inspiration and entrepreneurial wisdom!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
My name is David.
(00:00):
I started Sorsoap about fiveyears ago.
and we are a recovery companythat's bringing a different way
and a simpler way to treatyourself to the I thought it was
going to be a rocket ship.
You know, you get on shark tank,you think, wow, you know, I hit
the lottery or this is a rocketship.
All I got to do is hold on andgo for the ride.
It's not like that.
it's a grind.
Every day is a grind.
(00:21):
But when you start a business,as you know, it's more than just
profits and losses, it's morethan balance sheets and ledgers,
it's It's your passion.
It's your life.
You become it becomes part ofyour identity.
Welcome to the Franchise FreedomPodcast, where you can escape
the corporate trap throughfranchise ownership.
Here's your host, GiuseppeGrammatico, The Franchise Guide.
(00:48):
Welcome to the Franchise FreedomPodcast.
I'm your host, GiuseppeGrammatico, your franchise
guide, the show where we helpcorporate executives experience
time and financial freedom viafranchising.
Appreciate you joining us today.
Really excited for our show.
We're going to really be mixingthings up and moving a little
bit away from franchising andjust talking about a small
business and various otherbusiness outside of the
(01:10):
franchise world.
Wanted to thank you for yourfeedback.
I know you wanted more guests.
So we're bringing on, we have 10new guests that we're going to
be bringing on the show,covering all different aspects,
franchising attorneys, CPAs, andthings like that.
So, again, we really appreciateyour questions and feedback.
And that's really the point ofthis show is to educate as much
as we can.
So let's bring, let's see, letme hit the right button over
(01:33):
here.
David Restiano from Sorsoap,David, welcome to the show, man.
Hello, Giuseppe.
How are you doing?
Very well.
I'm a big fan.
I see a lot of your work online.
you do a really solid job.
You definitely cover all bases.
So I applaud you for that.
I was going to ask you if youcould do our marketing.
We have fun with it.
You know, we're trying to havefun and educate in a unique and
(01:55):
different way.
It's kind of one of thehallmarks of our company and
we're trying to lean into thatand keep it light and show
people how easy it is to do whatwe're doing.
I love it.
Yeah, I learn a lot.
it's entertaining and it'salmost like, man, It just seems
like you got content for days.
So I love it.
David, I guess, before we divein, and really excited to have
you on the show today is maybegive the audience a little bit
of a background as to kind ofwho you are.
(02:18):
And, you know, we'll startdiving into Sorsoap as I find, I
find this a business model inthe business.
thank you.
I am, a 50-year-old ex-athlete,who still trains and plays like,
I'm, still in the peak of mycareer, but I don't recover as
quickly as I used to.
I've got three kids, a beautifulwife, dog, you know, the whole
thing.
My name is David.
(02:38):
I started Sorsoap about fiveyears ago.
and we are a recovery companythat's bringing a different way
and a simpler way to treatyourself to the masses.
it all kind of started in myshower.
Giuseppe, if we're beingtransparent here.
during covid, my men's soccerleagues were all shut down.
as we all kind of know, we wereimpacted in different ways.
We were working from home.
(02:59):
We were working out from home.
I started to get into distancerunning just to kind of fill
that void that soccer had left.
one day after a run, I cameback, I got in the shower, my
hip flexors were really sore andI grabbed a bar of green soccer.
soap that had a little curve onthe bottom, and I started to
scrape my muscles like anathletic trainer or a physical
therapist has done to me in thepast.
(03:19):
and it felt great.
you know, I kind of had an ideain my mind.
I'm a graphic designer and anartist by trade.
So immediately I pictured, well,what if we could make this
easier to hold a little bit moreutilitarian, you know, shape it
like a real physical therapytool.
And yeah, Give the user theability to hang it up in the
shower, you know, on a littleholder.
And that was the day that SourceHope was born.
(03:42):
jumped out of my shower, my wifethought I was crazy, ran to my
studio, started doing 3Drenderings, started designing a
logo that you see here.
we've adapted and adopted thatright from the beginning.
and That's how it started.
A couple of weeks later, Icalled my physical therapist and
I asked him if he was interestedin starting a company around the
idea and that's how it allbegan.
That's awesome.
(04:02):
Well, it's amazing to hear wherethese ideas come from.
they say, you know, the showeris where a lot of stuff.
Ideas happen that they said, Idon't know what it is.
It's the, yeah, the noise.
I actually invested in a, in aShark Tank product years ago.
Aqua Notes I think it wascalled.
it's waterproof, you got thepencil and the paper you jot
stuff down, but you have toremember to tear the paper off
and bring it back with you,That's the only catch, but I
(04:24):
recommended it to everyonebecause I always have my ideas,
showering.
So we're getting into way too,too much information.
That's where my head is.
Is that a lot of times, to behonest with you, I've actually
looked into that.
when you're doing something thatyou've done a million times,
like when they say like, it'slike riding a bike, you don't
really think about what you'redoing in the shower because it's
a rote behavior You know, we'vedone it since we were little.
(04:45):
Part of your brain is freed upto think about those other
bigger, you know, more, youknow, abstract ideas because
you're just kind of goingthrough the motions.
You're relaxed.
The environment is relaxing andcomforting to begin with, and
that weighs into our company.
To be honest with you, we'vebrought recovery into the shower
because There's so many thingsthat you could combine in life,
(05:07):
but the daily routine of washingis something that we never skip.
it's a comforting place and it'sa routine and it's soap is a
commodity So we're trying tobring a little bit of a
different, aspect to that dailyroutine and you're 100 percent
right though The shower is agreat place to relax and let
your mind wander and feelcomfortable It's a safe place a
lot of my life revolves aroundthe shower now, to be honest
(05:28):
with you, a lot of my content, alot of my interactions with
customers and, you know, it'skind of like you alluded to,
it's a little bit of a weirdsubject sometimes, It's
something that we all share.
Most of us experienced musclesoreness, you know, in one point
or another in our life.
But yeah, we were talking aboutit before and, you know, playing
soccer and things like that.
And as we get older, yeah,recovery is not what it used to
(05:49):
be.
So, yeah.
And by the way, if you'rewatching any of, David's
content, just be aware, youknow, you may, there may be a
shower scene.
there was a lot more frequencyof me in the shower at the
beginning when I was trying toget the idea across now, I try
to limit it to one out of everyfive or six posts.
But at one point, here's a funnystory.
my mother in law said to me oneday, she said, you know, I've
seen you in the shower way morethan I ever expected.
(06:12):
And she was joking around, ofcourse, but, you know, it's
true.
But once I got over the whole,like, what do they say?
Like, you know, get out of yourcomfort zone, right?
If you're going to be the faceof a company, which when we
first started this company, mypartner's a physical therapist,
Dr.
Dan Statz.
I was naturally the one in frontof the camera a little bit, but
I wasn't as comfortable, youknow, you do a podcast here.
(06:35):
You're interviewing people.
You're obviously great in the infront of the camera.
You're comfortable withyourself, but it's probably
taking some time to hone thatskill and feel that comfort
level.
So for the first couple ofmonths, maybe, you know, to a
half of a year.
At the beginning, I was focusedon the product and I was trying
to limit the, you know, beingthe face of the brand, so to
speak, but to be honest withyou, when I embraced it and
(06:57):
really just made it authenticand genuine, we get a lot of
good reactions to it and we geta lot of people saying what you
said, you know, I enjoy yourcontent and it shows.
A little bit of behind thescenes stuff and it shows who's
behind, you know, who's doingthe work and who's the company,
so to speak.
And, you know, that's somethingthat Dan and I discuss all the
time.
he makes a lot of educationalcontent and clinical content.
(07:19):
and I think it's a goodrepresentation of the company,
you know.
Right.
There's a lighter side to it andthere's a scientific side to it.
And together he and I kind of,represent both aspects, which is
nice.
It's a nice combination.
Yeah, I will say, it makes itfun.
It's also kind of, you know,behind the scenes, what's going
on deliveries, you know, who'sgetting what.
So, yeah, I think it's great.
and Dan, who our kids go toschool together and I met Dan
(07:41):
years ago, he is your physicaland your partner, right?
Both physical therapy andpartner.
Yep.
He was my physical therapist foryears before the whole notion of
sore, sore soap started.
So do you have, you know, sohow, how did the product evolve?
Because I know it started off,there was a, I forget the
material.
Was it steel?
Was it, you know, there was asteel and then there's the, the
actual soap.
(08:02):
So how did, how did the productevolved into that?
So there's a lot of steel,there's a lot of a lot of metal
tools that you'll find, youknow, we could go back and do
the history of it.
muscle scraping has been aroundfor centuries, you know,
generations, you know, itstarted and there's there's far
east versions of this squashjade tools, wooden tools, stone
tools.
(08:22):
And then there was a version inancient Rome and Greece that the
gladiators would use a bronze ora brass tool to scrape their
muscles clean.
They didn't really evenunderstand at that point.
I mean, I'm assuming here.
Yeah.
I'm assuming they didn'tunderstand that what fascia was
and what soft tissue recoverywas at that point.
They were using a thing called astrigil to, to, they'd rub oil
on their muscles and they wouldscrape the oil off and it would
(08:44):
clean them and get the dirt offtheir skin after training or
combat or, you know, exercise,whatever it was in the process
of that unknowingly.
They were also, mobilizing softtissue, and it probably felt
great.
So this concept's been aroundforever.
We're just the first people tomake it out of soap.
so we make a ultra hard bar ofessential oil loaded soap.
(09:04):
It's got menthol in it, and wehave a couple different
formulas.
This is our original formulathat we launched with.
It's got menthol, lavender andchamomile with it, and you get
in the shower and you use itlike a muscle scraping tool.
The cool thing about it is it'svery user friendly.
It's soap, right?
It's not metal.
there's no danger involved.
Like if you're using a metalclinical tool, there is a small
instance where, you could hurtyourself on a tendon or a nerve.
(09:27):
Our tools are a little bit more,you know, do it yourself
friendly, especially causethey're soap.
They get you clean, smellsgreat, gives you an aromatherapy
angle that you otherwisewouldn't have in the shower.
we make it in the United Statesof America, we make it in Omaha,
Nebraska.
And then.
Like you alluded to before, wealso make our version of the
muscle scraping tool, a non soapversion.
It's called Soar Tool, and thiscame out after this whole idea,
(09:50):
but we realized there was a holein the market for athletes and
other people that were on thego.
a metal tool is heavy, it, it,you can't just throw it in your
pocket and go for a run.
Clangs around and, you know,it's not It's not user friendly,
so to speak.
So we made a super lightweighttool.
It weighs less than, you know, asmall pack of sour patch kids or
(10:10):
a goo that you'd bring with youon a run, the running world has
really adopted this tool.
They keep it in their runnervests.
They keep it in their shorts.
We were at the Philadelphiamarathon a couple of months ago,
and we sold so many of these torunners once they, you know,
came over and talk to us.
And, Dan would show them how touse it with a little bit of
cream.
it glides with sweat and it wasa great experience to interact
(10:31):
with all these runners.
And then the next day we got abunch of text messages and posts
on Facebook, tagging us onInstagram saying, you know, I
hit my PR yesterday and I owesome of it to the fact that I
had a muscle scraping tool.
With me, which was really a coolthing.
That's awesome.
you try it, which actuallybrings us to the next topic
here.
So you guys were on shark tankrecently.
(10:51):
And I remember watching that,you know, local guys, super
excited to hear that.
And, struck a deal with, withMark Cuban.
And part of that, I remember himsaying was, I was not, not sure
if I was in, or maybe he wasthat, but then he went back in
after trying is like my neckfeels Much better.
So I guess talk to us, you know,that to me, that's, that's super
exciting.
I I've never missed an episodesince day one, talk to us about
(11:14):
that whole process of, you know,how long were you in business
before getting on shark tank?
And, you know, how has thatprocess been, you know, given
that you've, you've kind of gonethrough this firsthand working
with, both on the show and thenworking with Mark Cuban.
So you see a big smile on myface when you start to talk
about Shark Tank.
It was, it was such a nervewracking experience, Giuseppe,
but it was also so rewarding.
(11:35):
I mean, it's the brass ring foran entrepreneur or a startup
founder in this country is, toget on Shark Tank, right?
so when we were approached byone of the producers, they had
seen some content that I made onTikTok.
I was actually suggesting.
A different product to a runnerthat I had become friends with a
very accomplished ultra marathonrunner out in california he was
having issues with something andI said, you know You should try
(11:57):
this product and it wasn't myproduct this producer from the
show saw that and it kind ofpiqued his curiosity to say
well, why is this founder?
encouraging A runner to usesomething that's a competitor,
you know, and it was just theright fit and it was the right
answer for the for the for therunner so he he reached out he
dug a little deeper into thecontent into us and into me and
(12:19):
he He liked what he saw.
He liked my personality.
so he sent me an email and Ithought it was a scam Like, you
know this day and age you get anemail that sounds too good to be
true and immediately you thinkOh my god, am I gonna?
You know, click on this andeverything's going to go
haywire.
so I called my son down who's 19and ran it through the
millennial filter.
I said, does it look real toyou?
And he said, yeah, let's Googlethe name.
(12:41):
So we Googled the name.
Sure enough.
He's the executive producercalls me a couple minutes later.
we chatted on the phone for agood hour.
We had a couple of things incommon.
We both played rugby at thecollegiate level.
so we just kind of hit it off.
next thing you know.
there's a lot that goes intoShark Tank, obviously, as you
can imagine, being a fan of theshow.
We rehearsed, and we wrote, andwe refined scripts, and that 90
(13:03):
second pitch that you see whenyou go through the doors, that's
the only part that's scripted.
So you hit your mark, you doyour 90 second pitch, hopefully
you get through it without any,flubs, because there's no
stopping the cameras once theystart rolling.
so we made it through that 90second pitch, the lights were
bright, we're standing on thatrug that you've seen it a
million times, and I'm scanningacross and I see Robert
(13:23):
Herjavec, Lori, Barbara, Mr.
Wonderful, and Mark Cuban.
And I just said to myself, youknow, Don't put too much
pressure on this moment, right?
which seems like a big assbecause you're in front of the
cameras, you're in Los Angeles,you made it to the mountaintop.
so I just wanted to have aconversation.
I wanted to stay calm, show themwhat we were all about, explain
(13:44):
the products.
Lori had a reason why she lovedthe product.
She'd be a customer, but it justwasn't for her.
It was more of just one product,not a full company, you know,
and since then we've establisheda few more products in our line.
Robert loved it as an athletehimself.
He said, I love it.
It feels great, but I'm out.
So I'm starting to lose hopehere, Giuseppe.
I'm starting to think.
I flew all this way, across thecountry watching all these
(14:05):
little pockets of cities andtowns thinking how we can help
each one of these people.
And then that's what I wasthinking as I'm looking out the
window of the plane.
We get there, we land, we'reshooting the show, and all these
sharks are dropping one by one.
Kevin, I'm out.
You know, who's left?
Barbara.
You know, she had some greatexplanation why she was out.
She liked us.
We got along great, but she wasout.
(14:26):
So now I look over at Mark andhe's doing this.
Like, I think you saw this part.
He's scraping, he's rubbing hisneck with the tool.
He wasn't out at all, but Ithought, of course, he's going
to go out too.
We're going to have to slinkbackstage through the doors and
we're going to be completefailures.
But he keeps scraping his neckfor a few more seconds.
And I thought to myself, I thinkwe might have a chance here.
And that's when he stopped andhe said, you know, my neck
(14:47):
hasn't felt this good in months.
And that's why I'm going to giveyou a deal.
And I could feel Dan and I bothexhaled and we, you know, that's
when I think we both knew, okay.
Life may change at this point.
This might be that pivot in ourlife as small business owners,
as startup founders, you know,we've got a chance here to make
it out of the first couple ofyears where most small
(15:08):
businesses fail.
so now, you know, fast forward,we've got Mark Cuban after some
due diligence and some businessstuff that we took care of
behind the scenes.
I think it's common knowledgethat not all deals close.
We were very happy and fortunatethat our deal closed.
My partner, Dan, negotiated withMark trying to get him a little
lower with the number, and I'mthinking, I don't care what the
number is, I'll give Markwhatever he wants, if he wants
(15:29):
to become part of this passionproject that we've started, and
nurtured for the last fouryears, we've got an opportunity
to have a billionairebusinessman, a mogul, an icon,
to join us.
I said, I whispered in Dan'sear, let's pretend like we're
negotiating, but we're going totake the deal.
And he's like, yeah, heck yeah.
So we said, you know, Mark, yougot a deal.
it was a surreal moment.
(15:49):
He got up.
He's a tall guy.
He's six foot.
He's got to be six, three, six,four, came over, hugged, shook
hands.
You've probably seen it on arerun of the show.
it was an amazing feeling.
That's awesome.
that is life changing.
and you hear.
being on the show, it's not, youknow, it's a quick episode, but
you're there for a while there'sprep and not all the deals
actually happened.
So, I don't know what you can,what you can share, but how has
(16:11):
it been so now that, you know,the due diligence, everything
has been finalized and, youknow, how has it been?
to work with Mark Cuban and ishe joining us today because he's
more than glad he's sittingright here next to, no, I wish,
listen, he, he's a part of whatwe're doing, you know, he's not
some aloof, consultant off inthe distance where he's
unreachable or, or, you know,every time I email Mark, he gets
(16:33):
back to me.
Usually sooner than I wouldexpect, you know, he's, he's
just like you or I, if youemailed me at a four o'clock on
a Tuesday, I would try to getback to you as quick as possible
because that's the way I want tobe treated.
I try to live with that goldenrule.
I could tell we're raised in thesame kind of way with a strong
focus on family.
Mark's the same kind of guy.
He's a billionaire, but he'sjust a normal guy.
(16:53):
He's a family guy.
He's a father, a husband, andyou don't become a billionaire.
accidentally.
he follows up.
He's diligent with the advicethat he gives us.
we're not even part of hiscompany for a year yet.
our episode aired in April andthat's when everything was
timed, the deal closed.
So we've been part of the MarkCuban companies for almost a
year in April, it'll be a year.
so we see, the next couple ofyears our relationship growing
(17:16):
and the trust between, his staffand us grows naturally as the
longer we work together, So Isee, I see a lot of exciting
things in the future.
I thought it was going to be arocket ship.
You know, you get on shark tank,you think, wow, you know, I hit
the lottery or this is a rocketship.
All I got to do is hold on andgo for the ride.
It's not like that.
it's a grind.
Every day is a grind.
(17:37):
every day you got to hustle tospread the word about your
product to grow your brand toeducate in our case because
we're doing something new.
it's not like a bottle of waterthat you walk by in the store
and you go, Oh, that's water.
I drink it.
I know how to use it.
Some people don't understandwhat soft tissue mobilization
is.
Some people don't understand howeasy it is to recover.
You know, in the shower or atthe field or in the gym with
(17:58):
our, with our products.
So part of the fun challenge forus is, giving that education,
especially to, there's somecynical people out there, you
know, Giuseppe, that just say,Oh, that, that can't possibly
work.
And sometimes when I run acrosssomebody like that on Facebook,
a lot of it happens to be onFacebook for some reason.
you know, I'll get a commentlike, well, that's just stupid.
Go ahead and do it with anysoap.
I guarantee it's going to feelgreat.
(18:20):
when it gets slippery and softand mushy and you can't hang it
up on the holder because it'sjust a bar of soap, then come
back to us and we'll talk about,how ours is a little different,
but I always encourage people totake a brand new bar of soap and
scrape whatever's sore.
You're going to feel animmediate difference.
and like we talked about before,that's how it kind of started
with us.
there's always going to be thehaters online and that's just,
that's just part of anybody you,you, you put your name out
(18:41):
there, your face out there,especially on social kind of is
what it is.
So you're asking for it, but youcan embrace it.
You know, you get every momentthat happens, whether it's a
positive interaction or anegative interaction from when
we signed with Mark and we, weaired on shark tank, you can
imagine our sales volumeexploded when we aired on the
show.
Right.
What we were doing on Tuesday.
(19:03):
as compared to Friday night whenwe aired was thousands of
percentage points, incrementallyincreased, So I don't know if I
said that properly it increasedexponentially from here to a lot
that I never even I couldn'teven imagine couldn't fathom the
sales volume, which was a greatthing but When we started to, do
all that volume, obviously,there was more customer care
(19:26):
issues.
There was more, you know,inquiries, there were more, you
know, issues that when you gofrom doing a hundred orders a
day to a thousand, let's justsay, for round numbers.
You know, you're openingyourself up to more of that
cynic or skeptic, or, you know,the hater, so to speak, you
know, social media is filledwith people who are either
unhappy or don't feel well, orhad a tough life or had a tough
(19:48):
day.
And sometimes they take it outon, on you or me or whoever else
is putting themselves out thereon, on Facebook or Instagram or
Tik TOK.
So, you know, it's fun.
Like I said, I try to embracethose moments and I try to show
people that you can run abusiness and still care and
still.
Not take yourself too seriouslyand still be kind.
and sometimes it works andsometimes it doesn't.
(20:08):
So, I liked it and I couldn'tagree more and it bothered me.
It was easier said now that I'vegone through it, but I
completely get it, understand.
And I had similar to you, thatimposter syndrome, right?
Just felt like.
Well, you know, what are peoplegoing to say if I say this or
that?
Well, if you don't have anopinion, if you don't put
yourself out there, first off,no one's going to see it.
(20:29):
So, you know, that's the riskyou take, but anyway, it's
totally worth it.
So, I guess, you know, even, Imean, I've seen even deals on
shark tank, whether they happenor not, just the exposure is
huge.
So I guess it was a Goodexperience overall to test the
systems, right?
because now you got volume, yougot, more customer service,
whether they're complaints.
Maybe questions on usage returnsand things like that.
(20:50):
So, what did that look like?
Did you have to changeproduction, build out a brand
new team to support all this?
we were able to telescope whatwe had pretty quickly.
the biggest thing I wasconcerned about, is we couldn't
replicate.
I did a stress test.
we're built on a Shopifyplatform.
obviously it's one of thestandard, names in e commerce.
They were great.
we did some stress testing and Ibuilt the site myself.
(21:13):
I'm a graphic designer by trade.
I've been working in theindustry For a long time, enough
to work my way through certainthings.
I'm by no means a Shopifydeveloper or e commerce platform
developer.
I figured it out just like weall do as small business owners.
We wear a lot of different hats.
I'm an artist by trade and agraphic designer.
So the image part and themarketing part was easy, but.
staying on topic here aboutstress tests the night before we
(21:36):
aired, we had a party planned.
I've gotten to know a lot ofshark tank, founders, right?
That have been on the show.
And I would say most of themelected to have a party and
celebrate the event right withfamily and friends.
Some of them said things like,Nope, I was sitting in my
office.
I was monitoring my webstatistics.
I couldn't imagine doing that.
(21:57):
We worked so hard to get to thatpoint, relax, have some fun,
share it with the people thatyou love.
The people that have helped youget to that point.
You know, I looked around thebar where we were at as a local
place, the Manilokan Road alehouse on Manilokan Road in
brick, New Jersey.
It's owned by a great smallbusiness owner and his family.
(22:19):
they're great people in thistown.
Their local guys, ocean andMonmouth County.
Being able to share that eventwith them, with their families,
with my families, with all theguys I play soccer with and
their wives and kids.
My, my children were there.
My father was there.
Unfortunately, my mother haspassed away, but she was a big
inspiration.
you know, maybe we talk aboutthis next, but I wear her medic
alert.
Bracelet around my neck becauseshe motivates me.
(22:41):
She's, she was my hero.
She was my idol.
She was my biggest cheerleader.
Um, and, and she was there withme too.
But when you start a business,as you know, it's more than just
profits and losses, it's morethan balance sheets and ledgers,
it's It's your passion.
It's your life.
You become it becomes part ofyour identity.
so much so that, you know,sometimes it's hard to separate,
(23:04):
you know, if you care enoughlike you do, and like I do, and
like most of the founders thatI've, I've interacted with, it's
hard to separate yourself fromthat sometimes.
So I chose to celebrate thatnight.
and we spend it with, witheverybody around us, but trust
me, I was watching my phone verycarefully and when it started to
go, you know, once, when Marksaid the magic words, you got a
deal, that phone started to buzzand, and, and spin and Shopify.
(23:28):
I've never heard some of thesounds that I heard that night
on the Shopify app.
it was great.
It was scary.
it was, I've used the wordsurreal a few times.
It was surreal.
It felt like I was living in afantasy kind of world for a
little bit and it hit me youknow, then I looked at the
numbers that we were doing and Iwas like, okay, now I got to
figure out how we're going topack this, how we're going to
ship it all.
And I'm doing it all out of myhouse.
So my wife jumped in, Dan andhis wife, came in and it was
(23:53):
like all hands reporting forduty.
You know, they were makingboxes.
I was packing them, shipping,putting the labels on.
My wife was putting labels onsoap.
It was a family affair, It wascool.
We got through it, I wasn't sureif we would or how, if we would
have any sanity left by the endof it, but it was a wild ride
and I tried to document as muchas I could and share it with,
all of our new followers onsocial.
I don't really think of them asfollowers.
(24:13):
The community that we werebuilding.
Right.
and that was Mark's biggest,talking point.
when we sat down and talkedabout what we were going to do
first, you know, I thought,well, this is before the Luka
Doncic trade to LA, I said tohim, well, are we going to get
the bars in Luka's hands?
Are we going to do a Mavs bar?
We'll do it in blue.
We'll put the logo on there.
He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa,slow down.
He said, what we're going to dois continue to build community.
(24:37):
And to be honest with you, I waslike, huh, well, that doesn't
sound that exciting, you know,it sounds more exciting to get
it in the hands of superstars inthe NBA, but it doesn't work
that way.
You got to build a wide customerbase and build community.
And that's an authentic way tobuild a business.
And I'm glad that he gave methat advice upfront because it's
changed the way I look at.
the day to day.
(24:58):
Sales are great.
I love going to a pop up shop ora pop up event at a gym and
making sales.
But you know what I love morethan that?
I love meeting people andtalking to people about how they
feel, what makes them feelbetter, how we can be a part of
it.
You know, common interests.
hey, you play soccer or you gowalking or hiking or mountain
climbing every day.
Does it make you sore?
Yes.
(25:18):
You love it.
So you're never going to stopdoing it no if you're 20 or 50
or hopefully well into yoursixties and seventies.
those kind of conversations aregreat.
just this last weekend, I wentand did an event at a gym and I
just thought it's going to be abunch of fitness men and women,
and we're going to talk shopabout fitness.
It happened to be, at a gymcalled Amped and Amped is short
(25:39):
for amputee, amputated, theowner of the gym, Max Gomez is a
below the knee.
amputee and the event wasfocused around amputees of all
ages.
Now, somebody in my casemight've said, well, this isn't
what I signed up for.
We're a fitness recovery brand,but we're not we're for
everybody.
and I embrace that.
(26:00):
And I had some greatconversations with people
ranging in age from 20 up to 80,about how they could use our
products to help them with gripstrength, mobility, making their
showers a little more accessibleand easy.
And it was, it was rewarding.
I think you miss an opportunityto make an impact on somebody.
and I always feel that impact onmyself.
It's a reflexive kind of thing.
(26:21):
If you just stay narrow mindedand focused on what you think
your mission is, let the marketdictate some of that, you know,
and I'm not just talking aboutsales, I mean, in everyday
interaction.
So I feel like I talked a lotthere, but now that there's a
lot there, I'm actually, and youbeat me on some, on some of the
questions.
I think there's a lot to unpackthere.
And I think that's superhelpful.
(26:42):
I think, you know, in this dayand age, people are looking for
The quick buck or, how quicklycan I launch my business and
exit and sell?
And it's just, they miss all themoving parts that go along with
it.
Like, you know, being packed,packing the boxes, putting the
boxes together, makingdeliveries.
Oh, you know, I'd watch some ofyour videos in the early days,
you know, as a business owner,it's about passion and doing and
(27:05):
wearing every hat that there is,you know, you're not too good to
do anything.
If it means, you got an officecleaning the toilets.
mopping up, whatever it takes.
So I think people lose that,they want to get to that point
five, 10 years down the roadwhere they got this massive team
and everything is running andyou're just creating a social
media video here and there,there's a lot, whether I'm in
(27:25):
the franchise space, I grew upin an Italian restaurant, small
mom and pop years and years ago.
it's a lot of work regardless ofwhat the business is.
And it's the passion.
It's the, the reason you'redoing it because there's some,
there's some highs and lows, youknow, if you've been doing it,
I'm 25 years in, this will be my25th year.
20 years in franchising.
And then I started, autodetailing was my first business
(27:46):
out of my, my parents homelooking back.
and cost to do a car was likeunder five bucks, you know,
between, and the water was freesince I lived at home.
So there's a, it's not, not abad deal at all.
I always tell everyone, youknow, business ownership, isn't
definitely not for everyone.
they had a president of the IFA,the International Franchise
Association.
(28:07):
He said that 70, you know,franchising aside, 75 percent of
people have dreamed across theU.
S.
of owning a business.
And he said, and then there wasa quiz after that, and he said,
of that 75 percent group, whatwas the number one reason that
they did not move forward?
So I'll have you guess, and thenI'll give you the answer.
What do you think the number onereason was?
(28:28):
And there's a lot of reasons Imean The reason that pops into
my head is they're afraid Imean, they're afraid of failure
or maybe not enough startupcapital I would say the biggest
thing that would keep me fromstarting this business might be
Afraid to fail, you know, thatfear of failure and, and that's,
I mean, if you bundle it alltogether, that's part of it.
(28:49):
and it kind of all, if youbundle it all together, it's not
knowing where to start a bunchof that, you know, the failure
kind of falls into play, butthat was like a common, a common
response, not knowing where tostart.
And I said, This is by the way,recorded beginning of January.
So we're, we're in the internetage when you have phones,
tablets, internet, lightningspeed, we have more information
(29:11):
than we know what to do with.
They didn't know when to, whereto start.
And I found that, you know,that's shocking.
Like, yeah, that's shocking.
There's so many resources outthere, but I think it just, you
just inundate with, with so muchinformation.
And, I always challenge peopleto say.
Well, like what's the hotfranchise.
I go, well, I have no idea whatyou can afford, where you're
located, what your skillset is,figure out, you know, why you're
(29:33):
doing this in the first place.
There's going to be some darkdays and some really good days,
but you need to get past allthat.
And it can be simply spendingmore time with family.
Yes.
The finances, we all want tomake more money, but You know,
that, that whole idea of timefreedom and people are like,
yeah, you know, I didn't, Ididn't think of that.
You know, I work nine to five inNew York city.
By the time I get home, it'sdark and I missed all the games
(29:54):
and stuff like that.
So I don't think people realize,the freedom, but on the flip
side, it's a lot of work youdon't get paid right away.
People have never gone without apaycheck.
So.
I think if you set theexpectation, yeah, it's a risk.
it takes a leap of faith.
When you say franchise, thefirst franchise I think of for
me personally, through my frameof reference is Jersey Mike's.
(30:14):
I grew up working for PeterCancro in one of the local
stores.
I mean, He's an inspiration froma business standpoint for me,
not only because He took a loanout from his football coach.
I believe the high schoolfootball coach gave him some
money to start up the originalstore in Point Pleasant, New
Jersey.
He bet on himself and look, hejust sold to BlackRock for eight
(30:36):
billion dollars, right?
the numbers are insane, but youknow, what's even more
inspirational for me is the factthat along the way he was able
to help so many different peopleand charities, and make people's
lives better, you know,systemically, individually, I
know personally we were impactedbecause he donated iPads to my
children's private school Itsays a lot about a person,
(30:58):
right?
when you can be that successfulin that rich, right.
And still keep that civic notionof civic duty, you know, and
altruism in the forefront ofyour mind while you're growing
meteorically across the world.
Right.
he must've been so focused ongrowth and scaling, which he did
an amazing job.
I mean, you could do a testcase, you could study his
growth.
(31:19):
I mean, as a franchise guy, I'mnot a franchise guy, but I would
imagine that's a company thatyou would look at and say, wow,
that's just a perfectlyscripted, you know, franchise
model, and they still make agood sandwich, right?
Yeah, they do.
I'm a big fan.
not because, you know, it's inmy backyard, but yeah, I'm a big
fan and yes, it was not.
It was not easy.
They were not a franchiseoriginally, but yeah, it took a
(31:41):
leap of faith, took a loan.
I mean, shit, you know, yougotta pay that loan back, you
know, especially it's like, Igotta make this work.
You know, I know I took a loanfrom my grandparents.
I'm like, if there's someone Ihave to pay, I gotta, I gotta
pay them back when I was denied,for a loan when I started, over
20 years ago in the lastbusiness.
So.
it's not easy, but yeah, itstarts with that dream, but you
know, really getting educated asto kind of why, why you want to
(32:03):
do it.
There's a lot of easier ways tomake money.
I tell people, you know, you canget a corporate job, work nine
to five.
Maybe you don't love it, but youcome home and you're done, you
know, Friday night, you're done,you don't have to worry about
work until Monday, but at somepoint it's like you start
missing something like I,there's, there's more to this,
that there's some meaning.
Yeah.
Am I helping people?
going back to Jersey Mike's.
(32:24):
Yeah.
You know, it's, it's reallyusing the fame, using the money,
leveraging that to help.
He helps everyone's schools.
at the local high school, theytalk about entrepreneurship and
what it takes to start abusiness.
And they hand out like 50 giftcards to all the kids.
And they were just in awe.
you know, giving back, he wasn'tthere, he had his staff there,
but it was like, these are waysthat we can help our community.
(32:44):
So it's nice not to forget whereyou came from and really inspire
and help others.
this is, this has been fun.
I'm sure we can definitely talkfor hours and I want to be
respectful of your time.
So the audience, you know, a lotof people listening are, you
know, corporate execs, they'relooking for a change, whether it
be part time business ownership,full time leaving the job, just
(33:06):
dipping their toe and learning alittle bit.
So these are people looking tomake the leap.
into owning a business, whatare, you know, some of the top
pieces of advice you want toleave, the audience with today?
Well, I think it goes back towhat you said previously about
not knowing where to start,right?
I think I never felt that way.
(33:27):
I always felt like I had everyresource at my disposal.
like you mentioned, the internetprovides us with all the
knowledge of the universe at ourfingertip, but I think the.
What might be missing from someof those people that get
paralyzed, you know, and they'reanalyzing everything and maybe
they feel stuck and they don'tknow where to start.
Maybe they don't feel like theyhad the support, you know,
(33:48):
either growing up or presentlyfrom their family.
That's a big part of what givesme the comfort and the
confidence to do what I do everyday.
not only because I feel like I'mhelping people, I'm literally,
we're literally making peoplefeel better, right?
Yeah.
Something that I never realizedthe power of.
I've gotten some feedback, someanecdotal feedback on TikTok
(34:09):
live.
It was during a TikTok live andI'll leave you with this because
I think it's very poignant.
somebody who I thought was beinga troll said, you know, Sour
Soap helped me lose 45 pounds.
And I said, come on.
And I kind of ignored it.
You know, as you're scrollingthrough the comments, you kind
of ignore the ones that aretrying to bait you.
So again, couple seconds later.
45 pounds I lost because of yoursoap.
I said, okay, if I interact withthis, this guy or girl, are they
(34:32):
gonna, you know, like flame meor something?
So finally I gave in, I said,okay, you know, what gives?
How did you lose 45 pounds?
But they said, I used sore soapon my shin splints and I was
able to start running again andI was able to lose 45 pounds.
And that hit me.
That's the moment I knew that Iwas doing the right thing.
it brought a tear to my eye,like we're, we never envisioned
(34:54):
helping people in this way.
We just had, I just had an ideafor a product and we turned it
into a company, but we'rereally, we're impacting people
in a positive way, and I don'tthink I would have the
confidence to be comfortable,even with imposter syndrome at
times, creeping in, unless mymother, She raised me to believe
in myself, she raised me to lookat things from a different
(35:14):
viewpoint, to be creative, and Ithink if I could leave anything
with people thinking aboutgetting into starting their own
business, it's just believe inyourself, look at things in a
different way, and the mostimportant thing that my mother
taught me is treat people theway you want to be treated, and
that goes for whether I'mcoaching soccer, or I'm
interacting with, Columbiabusiness school, talking with
them.
(35:35):
I don't care if they're thejanitor or another CEO of a
company, treat them the way Iwant to be treated.
And a lot of people twist thatrule around.
these days they say, well, I'mtreating you the way you treated
me.
That's not it.
My mother was very clear aboutit.
Treat people the way you want tobe treated.
And that has gotten me very far.
I don't measure it by, you know,again, profits and losses or,
(35:56):
or, you know, annual income.
That's not that important to me.
I'm hoping that if I can helpenough people and we can build
enough of a customer base andshow people how they can feel
better by using our products andreally do it in a genuine and
authentic way, then that otherstuff, like the exits and the
growth and the scaling, they'llall take care of themselves.
I couldn't agree more.
you very well said, I love that.
(36:18):
I think we had the same parents,but you nailed it, right?
you start focusing on too manyareas on the wrong thing and
yeah, you lose sight of what'smost important.
What's right in front of you.
So yeah, no, that's some of thebetter advice that we've
received.
So no, I really appreciate that.
how can people, find source?
So what's the best place.
Yeah, so Sorsoap, sorsoap.comand that's where you'll find all
(36:43):
of our unique, simple recoverytools, whether you're an athlete
or not.
and it's a fun way to feelbetter.
And we use the tagline.
We have treat yourself.
That's one of our taglines.
It's kind of a double entendre,like treat yourself to an all
natural, you know, hand stampedsoap, but also treat yourself in
the way that a clinician mighttreat you and you can do it in
between appointments.
(37:03):
You could do it to supplementthat clinical care.
But we also say, do more of whatyou love with less soreness.
And I think that's kind of auniversal, you know, thing for
all of us, whether we're gettingolder or we're middle aged or
we're young athletes.
Nobody likes to be in pain.
Nobody likes to be sore.
Nobody likes to be kept from thethings that they love.
So if we can help in some smallway, get more people doing those
(37:25):
things, whether it's biking orhiking or mountain climbing or
playing soccer like us, that'swhat we're here for.
That's awesome.
Well, listen, David, I reallyappreciate it.
looking forward to seeing you onthe soccer field.
That'll be, this will be my, my,my motivation.
That's next.
I'm going to need a lot of soap.
I will tell you that it's been awhile, but I do appreciate it.
(37:49):
I'm glad I'm sure we'll, we'llget to meet in person here, you
know, in the very near future.
And, thanks again.
Yes.
Stay on here.
I'll, we'll, we close out theshow.
Okay.
Thank you.
Giuseppe.
If you want to learn how to makethe transition from corporate to
owning your franchise, joinGiuseppe on the next episode.
You can also follow on allsocial media platforms and
(38:10):
achieve financial and timefreedom today.
My name is David.
(00:00):
I started Sorsoap about fiveyears ago.
and we are a recovery companythat's bringing a different way
and a simpler way to treatyourself to the I thought it was
going to be a rocket ship.
You know, you get on shark tank,you think, wow, you know, I hit
the lottery or this is a rocketship.
All I got to do is hold on andgo for the ride.
It's not like that.
it's a grind.
Every day is a grind.
(00:21):
But when you start a business,as you know, it's more than just
profits and losses, it's morethan balance sheets and ledgers,
it's It's your passion.
It's your life.
You become it becomes part ofyour identity.
Welcome to the Franchise FreedomPodcast, where you can escape
the corporate trap throughfranchise ownership.
Here's your host, GiuseppeGrammatico, The Franchise Guide.
(00:48):
Welcome to the Franchise FreedomPodcast.
I'm your host, GiuseppeGrammatico, your franchise
guide, the show where we helpcorporate executives experience
time and financial freedom viafranchising.
Appreciate you joining us today.
Really excited for our show.
We're going to really be mixingthings up and moving a little
bit away from franchising andjust talking about a small
business and various otherbusiness outside of the
(01:10):
franchise world.
Wanted to thank you for yourfeedback.
I know you wanted more guests.
So we're bringing on, we have 10new guests that we're going to
be bringing on the show,covering all different aspects,
franchising attorneys, CPAs, andthings like that.
So, again, we really appreciateyour questions and feedback.
And that's really the point ofthis show is to educate as much
as we can.
So let's bring, let's see, letme hit the right button over
(01:33):
here.
David Restiano from Sorsoap,David, welcome to the show, man.
Hello, Giuseppe.
How are you doing?
Very well.
I'm a big fan.
I see a lot of your work online.
you do a really solid job.
You definitely cover all bases.
So I applaud you for that.
I was going to ask you if youcould do our marketing.
We have fun with it.
You know, we're trying to havefun and educate in a unique and
(01:55):
different way.
It's kind of one of thehallmarks of our company and
we're trying to lean into thatand keep it light and show
people how easy it is to do whatwe're doing.
I love it.
Yeah, I learn a lot.
it's entertaining and it'salmost like, man, It just seems
like you got content for days.
So I love it.
David, I guess, before we divein, and really excited to have
you on the show today is maybegive the audience a little bit
of a background as to kind ofwho you are.
(02:18):
And, you know, we'll startdiving into Sorsoap as I find, I
find this a business model inthe business.
thank you.
I am, a 50-year-old ex-athlete,who still trains and plays like,
I'm, still in the peak of mycareer, but I don't recover as
quickly as I used to.
I've got three kids, a beautifulwife, dog, you know, the whole
thing.
My name is David.
(02:38):
I started Sorsoap about fiveyears ago.
and we are a recovery companythat's bringing a different way
and a simpler way to treatyourself to the masses.
it all kind of started in myshower.
Giuseppe, if we're beingtransparent here.
during covid, my men's soccerleagues were all shut down.
as we all kind of know, we wereimpacted in different ways.
We were working from home.
(02:59):
We were working out from home.
I started to get into distancerunning just to kind of fill
that void that soccer had left.
one day after a run, I cameback, I got in the shower, my
hip flexors were really sore andI grabbed a bar of green soccer.
soap that had a little curve onthe bottom, and I started to
scrape my muscles like anathletic trainer or a physical
therapist has done to me in thepast.
(03:19):
and it felt great.
you know, I kind of had an ideain my mind.
I'm a graphic designer and anartist by trade.
So immediately I pictured, well,what if we could make this
easier to hold a little bit moreutilitarian, you know, shape it
like a real physical therapytool.
And yeah, Give the user theability to hang it up in the
shower, you know, on a littleholder.
And that was the day that SourceHope was born.
(03:42):
jumped out of my shower, my wifethought I was crazy, ran to my
studio, started doing 3Drenderings, started designing a
logo that you see here.
we've adapted and adopted thatright from the beginning.
and That's how it started.
A couple of weeks later, Icalled my physical therapist and
I asked him if he was interestedin starting a company around the
idea and that's how it allbegan.
That's awesome.
(04:02):
Well, it's amazing to hear wherethese ideas come from.
they say, you know, the showeris where a lot of stuff.
Ideas happen that they said, Idon't know what it is.
It's the, yeah, the noise.
I actually invested in a, in aShark Tank product years ago.
Aqua Notes I think it wascalled.
it's waterproof, you got thepencil and the paper you jot
stuff down, but you have toremember to tear the paper off
and bring it back with you,That's the only catch, but I
(04:24):
recommended it to everyonebecause I always have my ideas,
showering.
So we're getting into way too,too much information.
That's where my head is.
Is that a lot of times, to behonest with you, I've actually
looked into that.
when you're doing something thatyou've done a million times,
like when they say like, it'slike riding a bike, you don't
really think about what you'redoing in the shower because it's
a rote behavior You know, we'vedone it since we were little.
(04:45):
Part of your brain is freed upto think about those other
bigger, you know, more, youknow, abstract ideas because
you're just kind of goingthrough the motions.
You're relaxed.
The environment is relaxing andcomforting to begin with, and
that weighs into our company.
To be honest with you, we'vebrought recovery into the shower
because There's so many thingsthat you could combine in life,
(05:07):
but the daily routine of washingis something that we never skip.
it's a comforting place and it'sa routine and it's soap is a
commodity So we're trying tobring a little bit of a
different, aspect to that dailyroutine and you're 100 percent
right though The shower is agreat place to relax and let
your mind wander and feelcomfortable It's a safe place a
lot of my life revolves aroundthe shower now, to be honest
(05:28):
with you, a lot of my content, alot of my interactions with
customers and, you know, it'skind of like you alluded to,
it's a little bit of a weirdsubject sometimes, It's
something that we all share.
Most of us experienced musclesoreness, you know, in one point
or another in our life.
But yeah, we were talking aboutit before and, you know, playing
soccer and things like that.
And as we get older, yeah,recovery is not what it used to
(05:49):
be.
So, yeah.
And by the way, if you'rewatching any of, David's
content, just be aware, youknow, you may, there may be a
shower scene.
there was a lot more frequencyof me in the shower at the
beginning when I was trying toget the idea across now, I try
to limit it to one out of everyfive or six posts.
But at one point, here's a funnystory.
my mother in law said to me oneday, she said, you know, I've
seen you in the shower way morethan I ever expected.
(06:12):
And she was joking around, ofcourse, but, you know, it's
true.
But once I got over the whole,like, what do they say?
Like, you know, get out of yourcomfort zone, right?
If you're going to be the faceof a company, which when we
first started this company, mypartner's a physical therapist,
Dr.
Dan Statz.
I was naturally the one in frontof the camera a little bit, but
I wasn't as comfortable, youknow, you do a podcast here.
(06:35):
You're interviewing people.
You're obviously great in the infront of the camera.
You're comfortable withyourself, but it's probably
taking some time to hone thatskill and feel that comfort
level.
So for the first couple ofmonths, maybe, you know, to a
half of a year.
At the beginning, I was focusedon the product and I was trying
to limit the, you know, beingthe face of the brand, so to
speak, but to be honest withyou, when I embraced it and
(06:57):
really just made it authenticand genuine, we get a lot of
good reactions to it and we geta lot of people saying what you
said, you know, I enjoy yourcontent and it shows.
A little bit of behind thescenes stuff and it shows who's
behind, you know, who's doingthe work and who's the company,
so to speak.
And, you know, that's somethingthat Dan and I discuss all the
time.
he makes a lot of educationalcontent and clinical content.
(07:19):
and I think it's a goodrepresentation of the company,
you know.
Right.
There's a lighter side to it andthere's a scientific side to it.
And together he and I kind of,represent both aspects, which is
nice.
It's a nice combination.
Yeah, I will say, it makes itfun.
It's also kind of, you know,behind the scenes, what's going
on deliveries, you know, who'sgetting what.
So, yeah, I think it's great.
and Dan, who our kids go toschool together and I met Dan
(07:41):
years ago, he is your physicaland your partner, right?
Both physical therapy andpartner.
Yep.
He was my physical therapist foryears before the whole notion of
sore, sore soap started.
So do you have, you know, sohow, how did the product evolve?
Because I know it started off,there was a, I forget the
material.
Was it steel?
Was it, you know, there was asteel and then there's the, the
actual soap.
(08:02):
So how did, how did the productevolved into that?
So there's a lot of steel,there's a lot of a lot of metal
tools that you'll find, youknow, we could go back and do
the history of it.
muscle scraping has been aroundfor centuries, you know,
generations, you know, itstarted and there's there's far
east versions of this squashjade tools, wooden tools, stone
tools.
(08:22):
And then there was a version inancient Rome and Greece that the
gladiators would use a bronze ora brass tool to scrape their
muscles clean.
They didn't really evenunderstand at that point.
I mean, I'm assuming here.
Yeah.
I'm assuming they didn'tunderstand that what fascia was
and what soft tissue recoverywas at that point.
They were using a thing called astrigil to, to, they'd rub oil
on their muscles and they wouldscrape the oil off and it would
(08:44):
clean them and get the dirt offtheir skin after training or
combat or, you know, exercise,whatever it was in the process
of that unknowingly.
They were also, mobilizing softtissue, and it probably felt
great.
So this concept's been aroundforever.
We're just the first people tomake it out of soap.
so we make a ultra hard bar ofessential oil loaded soap.
(09:04):
It's got menthol in it, and wehave a couple different
formulas.
This is our original formulathat we launched with.
It's got menthol, lavender andchamomile with it, and you get
in the shower and you use itlike a muscle scraping tool.
The cool thing about it is it'svery user friendly.
It's soap, right?
It's not metal.
there's no danger involved.
Like if you're using a metalclinical tool, there is a small
instance where, you could hurtyourself on a tendon or a nerve.
(09:27):
Our tools are a little bit more,you know, do it yourself
friendly, especially causethey're soap.
They get you clean, smellsgreat, gives you an aromatherapy
angle that you otherwisewouldn't have in the shower.
we make it in the United Statesof America, we make it in Omaha,
Nebraska.
And then.
Like you alluded to before, wealso make our version of the
muscle scraping tool, a non soapversion.
It's called Soar Tool, and thiscame out after this whole idea,
(09:50):
but we realized there was a holein the market for athletes and
other people that were on thego.
a metal tool is heavy, it, it,you can't just throw it in your
pocket and go for a run.
Clangs around and, you know,it's not It's not user friendly,
so to speak.
So we made a super lightweighttool.
It weighs less than, you know, asmall pack of sour patch kids or
(10:10):
a goo that you'd bring with youon a run, the running world has
really adopted this tool.
They keep it in their runnervests.
They keep it in their shorts.
We were at the Philadelphiamarathon a couple of months ago,
and we sold so many of these torunners once they, you know,
came over and talk to us.
And, Dan would show them how touse it with a little bit of
cream.
it glides with sweat and it wasa great experience to interact
(10:31):
with all these runners.
And then the next day we got abunch of text messages and posts
on Facebook, tagging us onInstagram saying, you know, I
hit my PR yesterday and I owesome of it to the fact that I
had a muscle scraping tool.
With me, which was really a coolthing.
That's awesome.
you try it, which actuallybrings us to the next topic
here.
So you guys were on shark tankrecently.
(10:51):
And I remember watching that,you know, local guys, super
excited to hear that.
And, struck a deal with, withMark Cuban.
And part of that, I remember himsaying was, I was not, not sure
if I was in, or maybe he wasthat, but then he went back in
after trying is like my neckfeels Much better.
So I guess talk to us, you know,that to me, that's, that's super
exciting.
I I've never missed an episodesince day one, talk to us about
(11:14):
that whole process of, you know,how long were you in business
before getting on shark tank?
And, you know, how has thatprocess been, you know, given
that you've, you've kind of gonethrough this firsthand working
with, both on the show and thenworking with Mark Cuban.
So you see a big smile on myface when you start to talk
about Shark Tank.
It was, it was such a nervewracking experience, Giuseppe,
but it was also so rewarding.
(11:35):
I mean, it's the brass ring foran entrepreneur or a startup
founder in this country is, toget on Shark Tank, right?
so when we were approached byone of the producers, they had
seen some content that I made onTikTok.
I was actually suggesting.
A different product to a runnerthat I had become friends with a
very accomplished ultra marathonrunner out in california he was
having issues with something andI said, you know You should try
(11:57):
this product and it wasn't myproduct this producer from the
show saw that and it kind ofpiqued his curiosity to say
well, why is this founder?
encouraging A runner to usesomething that's a competitor,
you know, and it was just theright fit and it was the right
answer for the for the for therunner so he he reached out he
dug a little deeper into thecontent into us and into me and
(12:19):
he He liked what he saw.
He liked my personality.
so he sent me an email and Ithought it was a scam Like, you
know this day and age you get anemail that sounds too good to be
true and immediately you thinkOh my god, am I gonna?
You know, click on this andeverything's going to go
haywire.
so I called my son down who's 19and ran it through the
millennial filter.
I said, does it look real toyou?
And he said, yeah, let's Googlethe name.
(12:41):
So we Googled the name.
Sure enough.
He's the executive producercalls me a couple minutes later.
we chatted on the phone for agood hour.
We had a couple of things incommon.
We both played rugby at thecollegiate level.
so we just kind of hit it off.
next thing you know.
there's a lot that goes intoShark Tank, obviously, as you
can imagine, being a fan of theshow.
We rehearsed, and we wrote, andwe refined scripts, and that 90
(13:03):
second pitch that you see whenyou go through the doors, that's
the only part that's scripted.
So you hit your mark, you doyour 90 second pitch, hopefully
you get through it without any,flubs, because there's no
stopping the cameras once theystart rolling.
so we made it through that 90second pitch, the lights were
bright, we're standing on thatrug that you've seen it a
million times, and I'm scanningacross and I see Robert
(13:23):
Herjavec, Lori, Barbara, Mr.
Wonderful, and Mark Cuban.
And I just said to myself, youknow, Don't put too much
pressure on this moment, right?
which seems like a big assbecause you're in front of the
cameras, you're in Los Angeles,you made it to the mountaintop.
so I just wanted to have aconversation.
I wanted to stay calm, show themwhat we were all about, explain
(13:44):
the products.
Lori had a reason why she lovedthe product.
She'd be a customer, but it justwasn't for her.
It was more of just one product,not a full company, you know,
and since then we've establisheda few more products in our line.
Robert loved it as an athletehimself.
He said, I love it.
It feels great, but I'm out.
So I'm starting to lose hopehere, Giuseppe.
I'm starting to think.
I flew all this way, across thecountry watching all these
(14:05):
little pockets of cities andtowns thinking how we can help
each one of these people.
And then that's what I wasthinking as I'm looking out the
window of the plane.
We get there, we land, we'reshooting the show, and all these
sharks are dropping one by one.
Kevin, I'm out.
You know, who's left?
Barbara.
You know, she had some greatexplanation why she was out.
She liked us.
We got along great, but she wasout.
(14:26):
So now I look over at Mark andhe's doing this.
Like, I think you saw this part.
He's scraping, he's rubbing hisneck with the tool.
He wasn't out at all, but Ithought, of course, he's going
to go out too.
We're going to have to slinkbackstage through the doors and
we're going to be completefailures.
But he keeps scraping his neckfor a few more seconds.
And I thought to myself, I thinkwe might have a chance here.
And that's when he stopped andhe said, you know, my neck
(14:47):
hasn't felt this good in months.
And that's why I'm going to giveyou a deal.
And I could feel Dan and I bothexhaled and we, you know, that's
when I think we both knew, okay.
Life may change at this point.
This might be that pivot in ourlife as small business owners,
as startup founders, you know,we've got a chance here to make
it out of the first couple ofyears where most small
(15:08):
businesses fail.
so now, you know, fast forward,we've got Mark Cuban after some
due diligence and some businessstuff that we took care of
behind the scenes.
I think it's common knowledgethat not all deals close.
We were very happy and fortunatethat our deal closed.
My partner, Dan, negotiated withMark trying to get him a little
lower with the number, and I'mthinking, I don't care what the
number is, I'll give Markwhatever he wants, if he wants
(15:29):
to become part of this passionproject that we've started, and
nurtured for the last fouryears, we've got an opportunity
to have a billionairebusinessman, a mogul, an icon,
to join us.
I said, I whispered in Dan'sear, let's pretend like we're
negotiating, but we're going totake the deal.
And he's like, yeah, heck yeah.
So we said, you know, Mark, yougot a deal.
it was a surreal moment.
(15:49):
He got up.
He's a tall guy.
He's six foot.
He's got to be six, three, six,four, came over, hugged, shook
hands.
You've probably seen it on arerun of the show.
it was an amazing feeling.
That's awesome.
that is life changing.
and you hear.
being on the show, it's not, youknow, it's a quick episode, but
you're there for a while there'sprep and not all the deals
actually happened.
So, I don't know what you can,what you can share, but how has
(16:11):
it been so now that, you know,the due diligence, everything
has been finalized and, youknow, how has it been?
to work with Mark Cuban and ishe joining us today because he's
more than glad he's sittingright here next to, no, I wish,
listen, he, he's a part of whatwe're doing, you know, he's not
some aloof, consultant off inthe distance where he's
unreachable or, or, you know,every time I email Mark, he gets
(16:33):
back to me.
Usually sooner than I wouldexpect, you know, he's, he's
just like you or I, if youemailed me at a four o'clock on
a Tuesday, I would try to getback to you as quick as possible
because that's the way I want tobe treated.
I try to live with that goldenrule.
I could tell we're raised in thesame kind of way with a strong
focus on family.
Mark's the same kind of guy.
He's a billionaire, but he'sjust a normal guy.
(16:53):
He's a family guy.
He's a father, a husband, andyou don't become a billionaire.
accidentally.
he follows up.
He's diligent with the advicethat he gives us.
we're not even part of hiscompany for a year yet.
our episode aired in April andthat's when everything was
timed, the deal closed.
So we've been part of the MarkCuban companies for almost a
year in April, it'll be a year.
so we see, the next couple ofyears our relationship growing
(17:16):
and the trust between, his staffand us grows naturally as the
longer we work together, So Isee, I see a lot of exciting
things in the future.
I thought it was going to be arocket ship.
You know, you get on shark tank,you think, wow, you know, I hit
the lottery or this is a rocketship.
All I got to do is hold on andgo for the ride.
It's not like that.
it's a grind.
Every day is a grind.
(17:37):
every day you got to hustle tospread the word about your
product to grow your brand toeducate in our case because
we're doing something new.
it's not like a bottle of waterthat you walk by in the store
and you go, Oh, that's water.
I drink it.
I know how to use it.
Some people don't understandwhat soft tissue mobilization
is.
Some people don't understand howeasy it is to recover.
You know, in the shower or atthe field or in the gym with
(17:58):
our, with our products.
So part of the fun challenge forus is, giving that education,
especially to, there's somecynical people out there, you
know, Giuseppe, that just say,Oh, that, that can't possibly
work.
And sometimes when I run acrosssomebody like that on Facebook,
a lot of it happens to be onFacebook for some reason.
you know, I'll get a commentlike, well, that's just stupid.
Go ahead and do it with anysoap.
I guarantee it's going to feelgreat.
(18:20):
when it gets slippery and softand mushy and you can't hang it
up on the holder because it'sjust a bar of soap, then come
back to us and we'll talk about,how ours is a little different,
but I always encourage people totake a brand new bar of soap and
scrape whatever's sore.
You're going to feel animmediate difference.
and like we talked about before,that's how it kind of started
with us.
there's always going to be thehaters online and that's just,
that's just part of anybody you,you, you put your name out
(18:41):
there, your face out there,especially on social kind of is
what it is.
So you're asking for it, but youcan embrace it.
You know, you get every momentthat happens, whether it's a
positive interaction or anegative interaction from when
we signed with Mark and we, weaired on shark tank, you can
imagine our sales volumeexploded when we aired on the
show.
Right.
What we were doing on Tuesday.
(19:03):
as compared to Friday night whenwe aired was thousands of
percentage points, incrementallyincreased, So I don't know if I
said that properly it increasedexponentially from here to a lot
that I never even I couldn'teven imagine couldn't fathom the
sales volume, which was a greatthing but When we started to, do
all that volume, obviously,there was more customer care
(19:26):
issues.
There was more, you know,inquiries, there were more, you
know, issues that when you gofrom doing a hundred orders a
day to a thousand, let's justsay, for round numbers.
You know, you're openingyourself up to more of that
cynic or skeptic, or, you know,the hater, so to speak, you
know, social media is filledwith people who are either
unhappy or don't feel well, orhad a tough life or had a tough
(19:48):
day.
And sometimes they take it outon, on you or me or whoever else
is putting themselves out thereon, on Facebook or Instagram or
Tik TOK.
So, you know, it's fun.
Like I said, I try to embracethose moments and I try to show
people that you can run abusiness and still care and
still.
Not take yourself too seriouslyand still be kind.
and sometimes it works andsometimes it doesn't.
(20:08):
So, I liked it and I couldn'tagree more and it bothered me.
It was easier said now that I'vegone through it, but I
completely get it, understand.
And I had similar to you, thatimposter syndrome, right?
Just felt like.
Well, you know, what are peoplegoing to say if I say this or
that?
Well, if you don't have anopinion, if you don't put
yourself out there, first off,no one's going to see it.
(20:29):
So, you know, that's the riskyou take, but anyway, it's
totally worth it.
So, I guess, you know, even, Imean, I've seen even deals on
shark tank, whether they happenor not, just the exposure is
huge.
So I guess it was a Goodexperience overall to test the
systems, right?
because now you got volume, yougot, more customer service,
whether they're complaints.
Maybe questions on usage returnsand things like that.
(20:50):
So, what did that look like?
Did you have to changeproduction, build out a brand
new team to support all this?
we were able to telescope whatwe had pretty quickly.
the biggest thing I wasconcerned about, is we couldn't
replicate.
I did a stress test.
we're built on a Shopifyplatform.
obviously it's one of thestandard, names in e commerce.
They were great.
we did some stress testing and Ibuilt the site myself.
(21:13):
I'm a graphic designer by trade.
I've been working in theindustry For a long time, enough
to work my way through certainthings.
I'm by no means a Shopifydeveloper or e commerce platform
developer.
I figured it out just like weall do as small business owners.
We wear a lot of different hats.
I'm an artist by trade and agraphic designer.
So the image part and themarketing part was easy, but.
staying on topic here aboutstress tests the night before we
(21:36):
aired, we had a party planned.
I've gotten to know a lot ofshark tank, founders, right?
That have been on the show.
And I would say most of themelected to have a party and
celebrate the event right withfamily and friends.
Some of them said things like,Nope, I was sitting in my
office.
I was monitoring my webstatistics.
I couldn't imagine doing that.
(21:57):
We worked so hard to get to thatpoint, relax, have some fun,
share it with the people thatyou love.
The people that have helped youget to that point.
You know, I looked around thebar where we were at as a local
place, the Manilokan Road alehouse on Manilokan Road in
brick, New Jersey.
It's owned by a great smallbusiness owner and his family.
(22:19):
they're great people in thistown.
Their local guys, ocean andMonmouth County.
Being able to share that eventwith them, with their families,
with my families, with all theguys I play soccer with and
their wives and kids.
My, my children were there.
My father was there.
Unfortunately, my mother haspassed away, but she was a big
inspiration.
you know, maybe we talk aboutthis next, but I wear her medic
alert.
Bracelet around my neck becauseshe motivates me.
(22:41):
She's, she was my hero.
She was my idol.
She was my biggest cheerleader.
Um, and, and she was there withme too.
But when you start a business,as you know, it's more than just
profits and losses, it's morethan balance sheets and ledgers,
it's It's your passion.
It's your life.
You become it becomes part ofyour identity.
so much so that, you know,sometimes it's hard to separate,
(23:04):
you know, if you care enoughlike you do, and like I do, and
like most of the founders thatI've, I've interacted with, it's
hard to separate yourself fromthat sometimes.
So I chose to celebrate thatnight.
and we spend it with, witheverybody around us, but trust
me, I was watching my phone verycarefully and when it started to
go, you know, once, when Marksaid the magic words, you got a
deal, that phone started to buzzand, and, and spin and Shopify.
(23:28):
I've never heard some of thesounds that I heard that night
on the Shopify app.
it was great.
It was scary.
it was, I've used the wordsurreal a few times.
It was surreal.
It felt like I was living in afantasy kind of world for a
little bit and it hit me youknow, then I looked at the
numbers that we were doing and Iwas like, okay, now I got to
figure out how we're going topack this, how we're going to
ship it all.
And I'm doing it all out of myhouse.
So my wife jumped in, Dan andhis wife, came in and it was
(23:53):
like all hands reporting forduty.
You know, they were makingboxes.
I was packing them, shipping,putting the labels on.
My wife was putting labels onsoap.
It was a family affair, It wascool.
We got through it, I wasn't sureif we would or how, if we would
have any sanity left by the endof it, but it was a wild ride
and I tried to document as muchas I could and share it with,
all of our new followers onsocial.
I don't really think of them asfollowers.
(24:13):
The community that we werebuilding.
Right.
and that was Mark's biggest,talking point.
when we sat down and talkedabout what we were going to do
first, you know, I thought,well, this is before the Luka
Doncic trade to LA, I said tohim, well, are we going to get
the bars in Luka's hands?
Are we going to do a Mavs bar?
We'll do it in blue.
We'll put the logo on there.
He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa,slow down.
He said, what we're going to dois continue to build community.
(24:37):
And to be honest with you, I waslike, huh, well, that doesn't
sound that exciting, you know,it sounds more exciting to get
it in the hands of superstars inthe NBA, but it doesn't work
that way.
You got to build a wide customerbase and build community.
And that's an authentic way tobuild a business.
And I'm glad that he gave methat advice upfront because it's
changed the way I look at.
the day to day.
(24:58):
Sales are great.
I love going to a pop up shop ora pop up event at a gym and
making sales.
But you know what I love morethan that?
I love meeting people andtalking to people about how they
feel, what makes them feelbetter, how we can be a part of
it.
You know, common interests.
hey, you play soccer or you gowalking or hiking or mountain
climbing every day.
Does it make you sore?
Yes.
(25:18):
You love it.
So you're never going to stopdoing it no if you're 20 or 50
or hopefully well into yoursixties and seventies.
those kind of conversations aregreat.
just this last weekend, I wentand did an event at a gym and I
just thought it's going to be abunch of fitness men and women,
and we're going to talk shopabout fitness.
It happened to be, at a gymcalled Amped and Amped is short
(25:39):
for amputee, amputated, theowner of the gym, Max Gomez is a
below the knee.
amputee and the event wasfocused around amputees of all
ages.
Now, somebody in my casemight've said, well, this isn't
what I signed up for.
We're a fitness recovery brand,but we're not we're for
everybody.
and I embrace that.
(26:00):
And I had some greatconversations with people
ranging in age from 20 up to 80,about how they could use our
products to help them with gripstrength, mobility, making their
showers a little more accessibleand easy.
And it was, it was rewarding.
I think you miss an opportunityto make an impact on somebody.
and I always feel that impact onmyself.
It's a reflexive kind of thing.
(26:21):
If you just stay narrow mindedand focused on what you think
your mission is, let the marketdictate some of that, you know,
and I'm not just talking aboutsales, I mean, in everyday
interaction.
So I feel like I talked a lotthere, but now that there's a
lot there, I'm actually, and youbeat me on some, on some of the
questions.
I think there's a lot to unpackthere.
And I think that's superhelpful.
(26:42):
I think, you know, in this dayand age, people are looking for
The quick buck or, how quicklycan I launch my business and
exit and sell?
And it's just, they miss all themoving parts that go along with
it.
Like, you know, being packed,packing the boxes, putting the
boxes together, makingdeliveries.
Oh, you know, I'd watch some ofyour videos in the early days,
you know, as a business owner,it's about passion and doing and
(27:05):
wearing every hat that there is,you know, you're not too good to
do anything.
If it means, you got an officecleaning the toilets.
mopping up, whatever it takes.
So I think people lose that,they want to get to that point
five, 10 years down the roadwhere they got this massive team
and everything is running andyou're just creating a social
media video here and there,there's a lot, whether I'm in
(27:25):
the franchise space, I grew upin an Italian restaurant, small
mom and pop years and years ago.
it's a lot of work regardless ofwhat the business is.
And it's the passion.
It's the, the reason you'redoing it because there's some,
there's some highs and lows, youknow, if you've been doing it,
I'm 25 years in, this will be my25th year.
20 years in franchising.
And then I started, autodetailing was my first business
(27:46):
out of my, my parents homelooking back.
and cost to do a car was likeunder five bucks, you know,
between, and the water was freesince I lived at home.
So there's a, it's not, not abad deal at all.
I always tell everyone, youknow, business ownership, isn't
definitely not for everyone.
they had a president of the IFA,the International Franchise
Association.
(28:07):
He said that 70, you know,franchising aside, 75 percent of
people have dreamed across theU.
S.
of owning a business.
And he said, and then there wasa quiz after that, and he said,
of that 75 percent group, whatwas the number one reason that
they did not move forward?
So I'll have you guess, and thenI'll give you the answer.
What do you think the number onereason was?
(28:28):
And there's a lot of reasons Imean The reason that pops into
my head is they're afraid Imean, they're afraid of failure
or maybe not enough startupcapital I would say the biggest
thing that would keep me fromstarting this business might be
Afraid to fail, you know, thatfear of failure and, and that's,
I mean, if you bundle it alltogether, that's part of it.
(28:49):
and it kind of all, if youbundle it all together, it's not
knowing where to start a bunchof that, you know, the failure
kind of falls into play, butthat was like a common, a common
response, not knowing where tostart.
And I said, This is by the way,recorded beginning of January.
So we're, we're in the internetage when you have phones,
tablets, internet, lightningspeed, we have more information
(29:11):
than we know what to do with.
They didn't know when to, whereto start.
And I found that, you know,that's shocking.
Like, yeah, that's shocking.
There's so many resources outthere, but I think it just, you
just inundate with, with so muchinformation.
And, I always challenge peopleto say.
Well, like what's the hotfranchise.
I go, well, I have no idea whatyou can afford, where you're
located, what your skillset is,figure out, you know, why you're
(29:33):
doing this in the first place.
There's going to be some darkdays and some really good days,
but you need to get past allthat.
And it can be simply spendingmore time with family.
Yes.
The finances, we all want tomake more money, but You know,
that, that whole idea of timefreedom and people are like,
yeah, you know, I didn't, Ididn't think of that.
You know, I work nine to five inNew York city.
By the time I get home, it'sdark and I missed all the games
(29:54):
and stuff like that.
So I don't think people realize,the freedom, but on the flip
side, it's a lot of work youdon't get paid right away.
People have never gone without apaycheck.
So.
I think if you set theexpectation, yeah, it's a risk.
it takes a leap of faith.
When you say franchise, thefirst franchise I think of for
me personally, through my frameof reference is Jersey Mike's.
(30:14):
I grew up working for PeterCancro in one of the local
stores.
I mean, He's an inspiration froma business standpoint for me,
not only because He took a loanout from his football coach.
I believe the high schoolfootball coach gave him some
money to start up the originalstore in Point Pleasant, New
Jersey.
He bet on himself and look, hejust sold to BlackRock for eight
(30:36):
billion dollars, right?
the numbers are insane, but youknow, what's even more
inspirational for me is the factthat along the way he was able
to help so many different peopleand charities, and make people's
lives better, you know,systemically, individually, I
know personally we were impactedbecause he donated iPads to my
children's private school Itsays a lot about a person,
(30:58):
right?
when you can be that successfulin that rich, right.
And still keep that civic notionof civic duty, you know, and
altruism in the forefront ofyour mind while you're growing
meteorically across the world.
Right.
he must've been so focused ongrowth and scaling, which he did
an amazing job.
I mean, you could do a testcase, you could study his
growth.
(31:19):
I mean, as a franchise guy, I'mnot a franchise guy, but I would
imagine that's a company thatyou would look at and say, wow,
that's just a perfectlyscripted, you know, franchise
model, and they still make agood sandwich, right?
Yeah, they do.
I'm a big fan.
not because, you know, it's inmy backyard, but yeah, I'm a big
fan and yes, it was not.
It was not easy.
They were not a franchiseoriginally, but yeah, it took a
(31:41):
leap of faith, took a loan.
I mean, shit, you know, yougotta pay that loan back, you
know, especially it's like, Igotta make this work.
You know, I know I took a loanfrom my grandparents.
I'm like, if there's someone Ihave to pay, I gotta, I gotta
pay them back when I was denied,for a loan when I started, over
20 years ago in the lastbusiness.
So.
it's not easy, but yeah, itstarts with that dream, but you
know, really getting educated asto kind of why, why you want to
(32:03):
do it.
There's a lot of easier ways tomake money.
I tell people, you know, you canget a corporate job, work nine
to five.
Maybe you don't love it, but youcome home and you're done, you
know, Friday night, you're done,you don't have to worry about
work until Monday, but at somepoint it's like you start
missing something like I,there's, there's more to this,
that there's some meaning.
Yeah.
Am I helping people?
going back to Jersey Mike's.
(32:24):
Yeah.
You know, it's, it's reallyusing the fame, using the money,
leveraging that to help.
He helps everyone's schools.
at the local high school, theytalk about entrepreneurship and
what it takes to start abusiness.
And they hand out like 50 giftcards to all the kids.
And they were just in awe.
you know, giving back, he wasn'tthere, he had his staff there,
but it was like, these are waysthat we can help our community.
(32:44):
So it's nice not to forget whereyou came from and really inspire
and help others.
this is, this has been fun.
I'm sure we can definitely talkfor hours and I want to be
respectful of your time.
So the audience, you know, a lotof people listening are, you
know, corporate execs, they'relooking for a change, whether it
be part time business ownership,full time leaving the job, just
(33:06):
dipping their toe and learning alittle bit.
So these are people looking tomake the leap.
into owning a business, whatare, you know, some of the top
pieces of advice you want toleave, the audience with today?
Well, I think it goes back towhat you said previously about
not knowing where to start,right?
I think I never felt that way.
(33:27):
I always felt like I had everyresource at my disposal.
like you mentioned, the internetprovides us with all the
knowledge of the universe at ourfingertip, but I think the.
What might be missing from someof those people that get
paralyzed, you know, and they'reanalyzing everything and maybe
they feel stuck and they don'tknow where to start.
Maybe they don't feel like theyhad the support, you know,
(33:48):
either growing up or presentlyfrom their family.
That's a big part of what givesme the comfort and the
confidence to do what I do everyday.
not only because I feel like I'mhelping people, I'm literally,
we're literally making peoplefeel better, right?
Yeah.
Something that I never realizedthe power of.
I've gotten some feedback, someanecdotal feedback on TikTok
(34:09):
live.
It was during a TikTok live andI'll leave you with this because
I think it's very poignant.
somebody who I thought was beinga troll said, you know, Sour
Soap helped me lose 45 pounds.
And I said, come on.
And I kind of ignored it.
You know, as you're scrollingthrough the comments, you kind
of ignore the ones that aretrying to bait you.
So again, couple seconds later.
45 pounds I lost because of yoursoap.
I said, okay, if I interact withthis, this guy or girl, are they
(34:32):
gonna, you know, like flame meor something?
So finally I gave in, I said,okay, you know, what gives?
How did you lose 45 pounds?
But they said, I used sore soapon my shin splints and I was
able to start running again andI was able to lose 45 pounds.
And that hit me.
That's the moment I knew that Iwas doing the right thing.
it brought a tear to my eye,like we're, we never envisioned
(34:54):
helping people in this way.
We just had, I just had an ideafor a product and we turned it
into a company, but we'rereally, we're impacting people
in a positive way, and I don'tthink I would have the
confidence to be comfortable,even with imposter syndrome at
times, creeping in, unless mymother, She raised me to believe
in myself, she raised me to lookat things from a different
(35:14):
viewpoint, to be creative, and Ithink if I could leave anything
with people thinking aboutgetting into starting their own
business, it's just believe inyourself, look at things in a
different way, and the mostimportant thing that my mother
taught me is treat people theway you want to be treated, and
that goes for whether I'mcoaching soccer, or I'm
interacting with, Columbiabusiness school, talking with
them.
(35:35):
I don't care if they're thejanitor or another CEO of a
company, treat them the way Iwant to be treated.
And a lot of people twist thatrule around.
these days they say, well, I'mtreating you the way you treated
me.
That's not it.
My mother was very clear aboutit.
Treat people the way you want tobe treated.
And that has gotten me very far.
I don't measure it by, you know,again, profits and losses or,
(35:56):
or, you know, annual income.
That's not that important to me.
I'm hoping that if I can helpenough people and we can build
enough of a customer base andshow people how they can feel
better by using our products andreally do it in a genuine and
authentic way, then that otherstuff, like the exits and the
growth and the scaling, they'llall take care of themselves.
I couldn't agree more.
you very well said, I love that.
(36:18):
I think we had the same parents,but you nailed it, right?
you start focusing on too manyareas on the wrong thing and
yeah, you lose sight of what'smost important.
What's right in front of you.
So yeah, no, that's some of thebetter advice that we've
received.
So no, I really appreciate that.
how can people, find source?
So what's the best place.
Yeah, so Sorsoap, sorsoap.comand that's where you'll find all
(36:43):
of our unique, simple recoverytools, whether you're an athlete
or not.
and it's a fun way to feelbetter.
And we use the tagline.
We have treat yourself.
That's one of our taglines.
It's kind of a double entendre,like treat yourself to an all
natural, you know, hand stampedsoap, but also treat yourself in
the way that a clinician mighttreat you and you can do it in
between appointments.
(37:03):
You could do it to supplementthat clinical care.
But we also say, do more of whatyou love with less soreness.
And I think that's kind of auniversal, you know, thing for
all of us, whether we're gettingolder or we're middle aged or
we're young athletes.
Nobody likes to be in pain.
Nobody likes to be sore.
Nobody likes to be kept from thethings that they love.
So if we can help in some smallway, get more people doing those
(37:25):
things, whether it's biking orhiking or mountain climbing or
playing soccer like us, that'swhat we're here for.
That's awesome.
Well, listen, David, I reallyappreciate it.
looking forward to seeing you onthe soccer field.
That'll be, this will be my, my,my motivation.
That's next.
I'm going to need a lot of soap.
I will tell you that it's been awhile, but I do appreciate it.
(37:49):
I'm glad I'm sure we'll, we'llget to meet in person here, you
know, in the very near future.
And, thanks again.
Yes.
Stay on here.
I'll, we'll, we close out theshow.
Okay.
Thank you.
Giuseppe.
If you want to learn how to makethe transition from corporate to
owning your franchise, joinGiuseppe on the next episode.
You can also follow on allsocial media platforms and
(38:10):
achieve financial and timefreedom today.
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