Ep.196- Jay Sapovits: From Marquee Jets to $5M Inked Stores – Entrepreneurship Lessons in Resilience & Growth

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Today we’re sitting down with Jay Sapovits, founder and president of Inked Stores—a swag company that’s not only grown past $5 million a year in revenue, but has also built more than a thousand online stores for big names like Pen Entertainment, DoorDash, and Crocs.

Jay’s path isn’t just about building successful ventures. It’s about resilience, reinvention, and choosing to keep moving forward after setbacks that would have made most people walk away. Before Inked, he helped scale Marquee Jets alongside Jesse Itzler and Ken Dickler. Along the way, he’s lived through both the highs and lows of entrepreneurship while staying rooted in relationships, humility, and service.

In our conversation, Jay talks about his knack for spotting opportunities—what he jokingly calls “desperation”—and how early patterns of escapism shaped his career. We get into his shifting view of happiness: not as something to chase, but as a way of being that comes from deliberate choices, meaningful work, and strong relationships, including nearly three decades of marriage and raising three kids.

Jay also opens up about ego, humility, and why keeping active is essential for his mental health. In his words: “when I sit around and relax, my life gets worse.”

For anyone on the entrepreneurial path, Jay offers practical wisdom:

• Sell your product or service first, before you pour time and money into building it.
• Don’t obsess over the “big idea”—you don’t need to invent something new, just solve a real problem.
• You don’t have to be perfect to start. What matters is truth, self-awareness, and the willingness to take the first step.

As Jay puts it, “You can’t lie to yourself.”

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