Lessons Learned Building a 1M+ Business (E109)

Robert PattonFounder of SHEATH Underwear Sponsors: Drip – Get a free demo of Drip using this coupon code!Spark Shipping – eCommerce Automation Links: https://www.sheathunderwear.com/https://facebook.com/sheathunderwearhttps://www.instagram.com/sheathunderwear/ Transcript: Charles:                        00:00                In this episode of a business of eCommerce. I talked with Robert Patterson about some of the lessons learned growing $1 million eCommerce business. This is a business of eCommerce, episode one Oh nine welcome to the business of eCommerce. The show of it helps eCommerce retailers start, launch and grow their eCommerce business. I'm your host, Charles [inaudible] and I'm here today with Robert Patterson. Robin has a founder sheet underwear, a veteran owned and operated clothing brand that he started while deployed in Iraq in 2008 I've asked Robert on the show today to talk about some of the lessons he's learned scaling his business over $1 million. So, Hey Robert, how are you doing today? Robert:                         00:43                Awesome. Thank you so much for having me on your show. Charles:                        00:46                Yeah, it's excellent to have you on. I'm super interested in dig into the brand and kind of how you started. I love talking to retailers that, you know, this is on the whole like journey and kinda how they began and where they are now. So first of all, what is the brand? What do you guys sell and what did you, you started this when you were in Iraq, you were deployed in Iraq, correct? Robert:                         01:05                Yes sir. I, I joined the army in 2006 during the height of the Iraq war. And I was in Iraq that same year, six months after I joined. And as you all know, it's hotter than the devil's balls there. If you've heard things, it's very hot. And there's a, as the guys, we typically, when we get hot, we can get uncomfortable in different places, primarily in your underwear. And I, you know, typically men will have to readjust when it's too hot. Things get sticky, sweaty, uncomfortable. And I was there wearing my full army battle rattle gear. And when you're wearing all this gear, it's hard to readjust. And so I had this epiphany because I was really uncomfortable. It was very, it's not the funnest subject to talk about. Like it's not, we're cool per se, but a lot of guys understand they get the point and get the idea behind the underwear immediately. Robert:                         02:13                So what I, what I thought of was if there was a pouch inside the underwear isolated and your boys from your inner thighs, you wouldn't have to readjust. And I wasn't trying to create some million dollar company. I just was trying to prevent myself from having to readjust at the moment, you know. So I literally went to the, we have like little stores in Iraq, like little mini Walmarts and I bought some underwear, some scissors, and I drew out kind of the design that I kind of envisioned in my mind. And I took it to Taylor. We had some tailors out there and Iraq because in the army you have to be your uniform needs to be fitting you properly. So we always have tailors available and I, but they've never had bring underwear, I would presume, to have underwear tailored. And so they snickered at me a little bit. Robert:                         03:08                Real fancy getting a runaway tailored. Yeah. They were just like, what is this guy doing here? But they made them and it was a very raw prototype. The pouch was actually too small and there was a lot of, that was in 2008 it's 2019 we've had multiple revisions in generations issued and produced since, since then. And you know, we didn't even start the company until two years later because like I said, I was just doing it for myself, you know? And as I told other people, you know, just in conversations they were like, that sounds like a good idea, you