I Make $1M/Month From Bed
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful video, entrepreneur Colin explains how he built a multi-million dollar bed sheet business, 'Sheets and Giggles,' from the comfort of his bed. He shares his journey from working multiple jobs to finding success with a unique marketing strategy that includes leveraging platforms like Kickstarter, social media, and podcast sponsorships. Colin emphasizes the importance of branding, direct consumer sales, and personal engagement with customers, offering practical advice on validating business ideas and building a strong online presence.
Takeaways
- 🛏️ The founder of Sheets and Giggles turned his bed into an office and made $1 million a month selling bed sheets online.
- 💡 Colin, the CEO, started his company after being fired twice and laid off once, which motivated him to work for himself.
- 🚀 In the first 30 days, the company made $284,000 with a strategy that included getting $450 customers at a $100 average order value (AOV) on the first day.
- 📈 The business model emphasizes starting with a solid business model before choosing a product, which Colin calls 'founder market fit'.
- 📊 A key strategy for validating business ideas is to create a brand identity map, financial model, and then seek validation from respected individuals.
- 💌 Colin advises selling before building, using tactics like wireframes, ideas, and signup forms to capture emails and gauge interest.
- 🔑 To achieve a successful launch, aim for 30% of the campaign goal on day one, using an email list to convert potential customers.
- 📝 Engaging personally with customers and social media is crucial for building a connection and understanding their needs.
- 🎨 Differentiating the brand involves using real friends as models to convey authenticity and chemistry in marketing materials.
- 🛍️ The company has expanded its product line from sheets to include comforters, pillows, and even mattresses, with a wide range of sizes and colors.
- 🌐 Marketing strategies include leveraging Facebook, Instagram, Google, Amazon ads, and surprisingly, sponsoring podcasts and YouTube channels that resonate with the brand's audience.
Q & A
How did Colin start his journey with Sheets and Giggles?
-Colin started Sheets and Giggles after being fired twice and laid off once. He was tired of working for others and wanted to carve his own niche. He incorporated the company in October 2017, shipped the first box in October 2018, and reached $1.2 million in sales by November 2020.
What is the business model of Sheets and Giggles?
-Sheets and Giggles is a direct-to-consumer brand that primarily sells through their website, sheetsgiggles.com, which is built on a Shopify backend, and also on Amazon. They sell a variety of bedding products, including sheets, comforters, duvet covers, pillowcases, and more.
What was Colin's initial marketing strategy to validate his business idea?
-Colin's initial marketing strategy involved building a brand identity map and a financial model to visualize the company. He then sent these to people he respected for validation. He also captured 11,000 emails with a pre-launch offer, which helped him validate the demand for his product.
What advice does Colin give for finding a business idea?
-Colin advises to build a business model first that aligns with one's skills and passions. He suggests finding what he calls 'founder market fit,' which is a business that fits within your existing skill sets and interests.
How did Colin differentiate Sheets and Giggles in a crowded market?
-Colin differentiated Sheets and Giggles by using his friends as models to create authentic and relatable content. He also focused on not ironing the sheets, as a way to stand out and be unique in the market.
What is the significance of the name 'Sheets and Giggles'?
-The name 'Sheets and Giggles' is significant because it is spell sharable, memorable, and denotes what the company does. It also has good SEO and is available as a .com domain, which is important for American consumers.
What tools and platforms does Colin use to run his business?
-Colin uses Shopify for his e-commerce platform, Google Analytics and AdWords for marketing, Rebuy for upselling, AfterShip for post-purchase upsells, and Okendo for reviews. He also uses various Shopify apps for order tracking and a chatbot with AI for customer service.
How does Colin engage with his customers and audience?
-Colin engages with his customers and audience by responding to every social media comment and customer care email himself. He also writes all the email copy and website content, ensuring a personal connection with his audience.
What is the role of the Mile High Workshop in Colin's team?
-The Mile High Workshop is a part of Colin's team that helps lower local recidivism and homelessness rates in Denver. Colin appreciates having them as part of his team, as it aligns with his company's values.
What advice does Colin give to his past self and others in a similar situation?
-Colin advises to keep working hard, as kindness plus hard work plus intelligence leads to good things. He emphasizes the importance of staying persistent and believing in one's abilities.
How does Colin maintain a work-life balance while working from home?
-Colin maintains a work-life balance by working from different environments, such as his bed or by the river. He also spends time outdoors with his dog, which he finds to be a healing and wellness activity.
Outlines
💰 From Bed to Millionaire: The Startup Journey
This paragraph introduces the story of an entrepreneur who made a million dollars a month selling bed sheets online. The individual operates his business from the comfort of his bed. The narrator, Pat Walls, visits Denver to learn about Colin's unconventional marketing strategies and the blueprint for building a successful brand. Colin shares his initial struggles with multiple jobs and his decision to start his own company, which led to a significant profit in the first month. The video promises to reveal the secrets behind building a brand and validating a business idea.
🚀 Launching a Brand: Strategies for Validation and Growth
The second paragraph delves into the process of validating a business idea and the steps Colin took to grow his brand. Colin emphasizes the importance of creating a brand identity map, financial model, and business model as foundational steps. He advises selling before building the product to gauge customer interest and shares his strategy of capturing emails and involving potential customers in the product development process. Colin also discusses the importance of personal engagement with customers and content creation for effective marketing.
🛍️ Scaling to Success: Marketing and Brand Differentiation
In this paragraph, the focus shifts to the marketing strategies that contributed to the brand's success. Colin talks about leveraging traditional advertising platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google, and Amazon, as well as sponsoring podcasts and YouTube channels that resonate with his target audience. He stresses the importance of differentiating the brand by using real friends as models to convey authenticity and chemistry. Colin also shares his approach to naming the brand, emphasizing the need for a memorable, SEO-friendly name that denotes the brand's purpose.
🛠️ Tools and Team Behind a Multi-Million Dollar Business
The final paragraph discusses the tools and team that support the operations of the multi-million dollar business. Colin lists various software and apps that aid in sales, customer service, and marketing, such as Shopify, Google Analytics, Reby, AfterSell, and Okendo. He also mentions the use of AI chatbots for customer interaction and content creation. The paragraph highlights the diverse team involved in the business, including logistics, marketing, and customer care, with a special mention of the Mile High Workshop team in Denver, which contributes to local community development.
🏞️ Work-Life Harmony: The Entrepreneur's Daily Routine
This paragraph provides insight into Colin's daily routine as the founder of a successful business. He describes working from bed and the outdoors by the river, emphasizing the importance of mental wellness and creativity. Colin's day involves meetings, coordination, analytics, reporting, and content creation. He concludes by offering advice to his past self and others in similar situations, highlighting the value of kindness, hard work, and intelligence in achieving success.
🌟 Inviting Growth: A Workshop for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
In the closing paragraph, Pat Walls extends an invitation to a free workshop for subscribers, where he will share his experience in building a million-dollar business with just two hours of work per day. The workshop aims to guide attendees on finding and executing a million-dollar business idea and making their first dollar. Pat encourages viewers to sign up through the provided link for this opportunity to learn and grow their businesses.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Million-dollar business
💡Bed sheets
💡E-commerce
💡Marketing strategy
💡Brand identity map
💡Direct consumer brand
💡Kickstarter
💡Founder market fit
💡Email list
💡Content creation
💡Personal engagement
Highlights
Entrepreneur made $1 million a month selling bed sheets online from bed.
Started with three full-time jobs, then founded his own company making $284,000 in the first 30 days.
Achieved first million-dollar month in November 2020 with $1.2 million in sales.
The company, Sheets and Giggles, started with sheets and expanded to comforters, pillows, and more.
Utilizes a Shopify backend and also sells on Amazon, with a significant portion of sales from Shopify.
Colin was fired twice and laid off once, leading to the decision to start his own company.
Mentorship from a Kickstarter launch party was life-changing and direction-setting.
Advice for finding a mentor includes asking for an hour a week of their time and offering to buy them lunch.
Colin suggests starting with a business model first, then finding a product that fits.
The importance of building a brand identity map for visualizing and understanding the company being built.
Capturing 11,000 emails with a pre-launch offer led to significant early sales.
Engaging personally with customers and social media is crucial for building a connection.
Selling before building helps validate ideas and create emotional investment from customers.
Achieved a $284,000 campaign through effective email marketing and content strategy.
Podcasts and YouTube channels sponsorships have been effective marketing strategies.
Differentiating the brand with a unique voice and chemistry, avoiding ironed sheets for authenticity.
Rules for a good brand name: spell sharable and memorable, denote what you do, good SEO, and a .com domain.
Using tools like Shopify, Google Analytics, and various apps for sales, customer care, and marketing.
Colin's work-life includes working from bed and the river for mental wellness and creativity.
Advice for his past self and others: kindness, hard work, and intelligence will lead to success.
Transcripts
this guy made $1 million a month selling
bed sheets online and the crazy part is
he literally does it from bed I work
from bed all the time actually this is
definitely the office I flew out to
Denver Colorado to ask him exactly how
he got started and the unconventional
marketing strategy he uses to make
millions of dollars a year I sponsor
that I love and I sponsor that I watch
before the money Colin worked three
different full-time jobs but he couldn't
keep any of them so he decided to start
his own company and in the process found
a special hack to make
$284,000 in his first 30 days we got
$450 customers at a $100 aov did $45,000
on day one and that snowballed into a
$284,000 campaign in this video Colin
shares his exact blueprints on how to
build a million doll per month brand how
to name a million doll per month brand
and how to find and validate a million
dooll business idea the easiest way to
do it is to build a so they can really
visualize and understand the company
that they're building I'm Pat walls and
this is starter story Colin great to
meet you in person after all these years
so it's awesome to see the growth of
starter story thank you man thank you
for having me tell me about yourself and
what you built I am founder and CEO of
sheets and giggles and if you haven't
heard of us we sell bed sheets I
Incorporated the company October 20177
shipped our first box in in October 2018
and then about 25 months later November
2020 we had our first million doll month
at about $1.2 million in sales so it was
pretty medior at the beginning yeah it's
awesome yeah all right can you tell me a
little bit more about your business and
how it works sure so we're a directed
consumer brand we sell mostly through
our website sheets giggles.com which is
a Shopify backend and then we also sell
on Amazon at amazon.com sheets we do
about 9010 or 8020 Shopify burs Amazon
in terms of sales we started in 2018
with just sheets comforters and dubet
covers and pillowcases since then we've
added throw blankets pillows crib sheets
mattress protectors and all stuff and we
actually launched a mattress in 20 late
2022 we started with five colors and
five sizes and now we have seven sizes
and 17 colors and hundreds of skews and
shipping 100 PB mattresses every day so
it's crazy yeah all right Colin tell me
a little bit more about your backstory
how did you come to the point where you
wanted to start your own company I've
been fired twice and I've been laid off
once um and it sucks every time no last
week's pay have to buy back your laptop
lose your health care I was like
man like all my friends are in New York
working at Banks like I can't believe I
was just done with it I was I was super
done working for other people I was so
tired of having to take orders that I
disagreed with and my friend gave a
phone call it changed my life she said
hey we're we're doing a Kickstarter for
my wearable tech idea that I have do you
want to help with it I said yeah sure I
threw a launch party for her in Seattle
that changed my life because the
mentorship I got there is completely
life-changing for someone especially in
their 20s who's kind of directionless or
or feels like they're directionless my
best advice I can give people is do you
think someone's going to be a good
Mentor say Hey you have an hour a week
that I can maybe spend with you and buy
you lunch every week and ask you
questions and that's exactly what I did
I had three people that I bought lunch
every week and I asked them as many
questions as I could I've been working
for myself for 6 and a half years and
it's the best gift I've ever given
myself how did you find the idea how did
you come up with the idea for sheets and
giggles and why did you decide to build
it after working in direct consumer
company and wearable technology I really
wanted something that was a direct
consumer brand and I really wanted
something that be proud of something
that was in a big space I carve my own
nichan so I actually started to like
write my business model before I knew
what the product was for people who are
thinking about starting a business if
you have a problem other people have
that problem too I think that logic is
great and I think it's fine the question
is whether or not they're willing to pay
for a solution to that problem and so I
really encourage people to build a
business model first that they really
feel strongly about that makes sense for
them their skill set what they're best
at in the world I think business model
first product second or at least tweak
your product to make sure it fits really
well into the business model yeah
instead of finding a problem find what I
call founder market fit which is the
business that fits the best within your
existing skill sets and that's actually
something we talk about on our Workshop
that we run about how to find a
million-dollar business idea idea which
you should join if you go to the link in
the description we talk about how to
look at your own skills and your own
passions to identify a potential problem
that you can solve that you can turn
into a million-dollar business it it's
really that simple I think that people
think that they have to have some like
doorbuster like blisteringly intelligent
novel never-before seen idea to start a
business and that's just not true if
people ask themselves what am I best in
the world at it's a great place to start
for like what business they should start
yeah that's what I always say too yeah
let's talk about that period of trying
to figure things out you had this idea
for sheets and Giggles how did you
validate the idea the easiest way to do
it is to build a brand identity map that
should be the first thing that everybody
does actually is a brand identity map so
they can really visualize and understand
the company that they're building it is
also a great like foundation for
everything that follows so those are the
three things brand identity map
financial model business model then take
those three things or especially the
financial model send it to people you
respect and say hey like does this make
sense am I forgetting about a cost
somewhere am I am I charging too much
and if the people that you respect are
like hey I look at your financial model
and yeah makes sense like I think you
could you could do this once you get
that first validation then you move on
to trying to validate with actual
customers and my advice to everyone is
to sell before you build you can sell a
wireframe you can sell an idea you can
sell a signup form an email capture the
simple steps are like build a tactile
something that you can really promise
them like a like a you know sign up now
and on May 1st when we launch you'll get
the best price that you'll ever lock
into into for the best set of sheets
you'll ever have for us we were selling
a set for $100 but if they signed up
first they get them for 69 bucks and we
ended up capturing 11,000 emails
46% email capture then you send them
surveys what colors do you want how much
would you pay for this you get them
involved and if you get people feeling
like they're building a product with you
they become emotionally invested in it
and they're if they're not going to buy
it they might share it with someone and
be like check out this new product
company launched that's the ultimate
validation so yeah then once you get
those sales you know people will pay for
it yeah okay so you have this validation
yep you have these people that are ready
to buy they're ready to buy then you
parlay that into massive sales tell me
about those moments and how you did that
if you want to do $100,000 campaign for
example you need 30% of your total that
you want your goal on day one that's how
the crowdfunding math Works spikes
plateaus little Spike at the end you
then need on day one $30,000 300
customers at 100 bucks where do you get
those customers from you get them from
an email list you need 10,000 emails cuz
an email list reasonably converts at
about 3% 2% of you're doing something
wrong 4% if you're doing something right
I did the calculations I was like all
right great we're going to do $70 price
on day one 1 and a half units per order
I assumed so about a $100 aov and I
assumed that if our 10,000 person email
L converted to 3% we get 300 customers
$330,000 we were on our way to $100,000
campaign what ended up happening is our
email is converted at 45% we got $450
customers at a $100 aov did $45,000 on
day one and that snowballed into a
$284,000 campaign and I attribute a lot
of that to like the content that we were
sending out it was so different than any
email they'd ever gotten yeah I advise
this to any founder listening is I had a
one-on-one connection with thousands of
people I answered every single social
media comment myself I responded to
every customer care email myself I you
know wrote every email I wrote every
word of copy on the website for years I
can't recommend enough that Founders
take the time to engage with people
extremely personally on a on a granular
level yeah so you launch you have this
massive launch then how do you get to 1
million a month what's the special sauce
of marketing things that work are like I
think everyone's going to know works
right Facebook Instagram Google Amazon
ads all that has worked for years and it
continues to work and then the ones that
have worked that have surprised me have
been the podcast channels I sponsor
podcasts that I love and I sponsor
YouTube channels that I watch if you the
founder of your company and you love
something you love a radio station you
love a podcast you love a YouTuber odds
are the people who also like them are
like you they're going to resonate with
your personality and a lot of your
personality is going to come out in your
brand so it all lines up you have
viewers of people who are like you who
are going to resonate with a brand
that's like them that watch a channel
that you speak the language of that you
can make inside jokes for that you can
write compelling copy with that you can
build a whole landing page p in that
brand voice the conversion rate on that
is insane versus every other page on our
website same with the content make sure
the content makes you make sure the
content's interesting to you betting is
a crowded space and very boring um how
have you differentiate yeah exactly how
have you differentiated your brand and
why has it made it successful I use my
friends as models not just because
they're cheaper which they are but also
because I don't think that you can fake
friendship and chemistry and so I always
try to get stuff like that bleeds off
the screen that just feels like you're
in the room with us and overall the the
ideology is you can't be everything for
everyone so make sure that you're like
at least something for someone if you're
not pissing like at least 20% of people
off you you're probably not doing it
right for example one rule we have is we
never iron the sheets the longest short
of it is if it's been done before I
don't want it I don't want to do it yeah
let's talk about how you came up with
the name for sheets and Giggles how' you
come up with that well so I have four
rules to a good brand name it has to be
spell sharable and memorable that's one
rule spell sharable and memorable rule
number two it has to connote or denote
what you do sheets and Giggles we Den
knowe what we do we sell bed sheets rule
number three is that you have to have
good SEO around it try not to pick words
or combinations of words where they find
not you or worse a competitor and Rule
Number Four is that if you're going to
sell to Americans you got to have a do
com because Americans don't buy from
anything that's not a doom those are my
four rules and if you have four for four
you're a bullseye and if you're three
for four go go forward if you're two for
four two and a half nope try again
that's epic so yeah Pat very important
question would you like to get in the
bed with me I don't know man we've been
in bed together for 5 years all right
interview from bed first time for
everything I love it let's talk about
the most bad thing you can imagine what
tools do you use for your business so
Shopify big one um of course Google
analytics Google AdWords I love uh Reby
for incard up cells I love after sell
for post-p purchase upsells I really
like okendo for our reviews so I use
okendo we use a lot of shoing f apps
tracking more for order tracking site
gbt which is a chatbot for with AI that
you can train on your website I really
like this kid that built this he's one a
solopreneur you should interview him
actually we have actually wait the GPT
guy oh he's so nice he's in our
community dude he's super nice okay he's
like some 20-year-old kid like just like
dude he really nailed it with that and
I'm really happy for him um it's like 50
bucks a month and it cut down our
customer care tickets by like 30% um
it's also our best salesman cuz we tell
the AI bot if you have a great
conversation with people and it's able
to judge if it's a good conversation
offer them code AI for 10% off and it's
one of our best little discount codes
that we use yeah it's great pays for
itself and then I use uh stock IM for
image creation as well as Dolly use a
little bit of chat GPT for for blank
page problem I really obsess over copy
so I try not to use chat gbt for like
copy copy but as someone with 88 HD like
the blank page problem can be really
overwhelming sometimes and so it's
really nice to solve that problem yeah
yeah I usually just tear it up anyway
but yeah let's talk about uh Team what
does your team look like well we have on
a daily basis about 40 people who touch
the business and that's everyone from
Logistics and warehousing to uh Amazon
ad agencies to Performance Marketing
agencies affiliate agencies full-time
folks in marketing in product and
operations in customer care we work with
tons of folks I think my favorite people
people that are part of our team are the
folks at Mile High Workshop here in
Denver it helps lower our local
recidivism rates and our local
homelessness rates and it's one of my
favorite things that that we do on our
team is have those folks a part of it
cool yeah tell me about the day in the
life of Colin day in the life of someone
building multi-million dollar business
from home I work from bed all the time
actually um this is definitely the
office but I think everyone can tell you
four walls start closing in after a
while when you're in the same space so I
love working from the river I go out
there with Harvey my little Jack Russell
I sit right in the water up to my chest
and I put my laptop on a rock I set up
hot spot and I just work from the river
and I do that probably like 3 days a
week in the summer wow and it is the
best it's the most healing mental
Wellness thing that I can recommend from
someone is to spend more time Outdoors
look man I'm I'm slacking I'm sending
emails and I'm on the phone whether I'm
in the water or I'm in my bed or I'm in
the office you know so my job is mostly
at this point
meetings coordination followups
analytics and Reporting and then you
know content creation as well which
really helps to get into a new
environment to be more creative last
question if you could sit on Colin
shoulder when you you know work in that
full-time job when you were laid off
what advice would you give to him what
what advice would you give to someone
like that it's not fun shouldn't be
glorified but I would tell myself as a
25 26 27-year-old kindness plus hard
work plus
intelligence leads to good things and
you're kind and smart so keep
working hard and eventually it'll it'll
pay off stay with it yeah thank you man
dude thank you for inviting me this is
amazing the company you built thank you
follow this advice and you will have a
multi-million dollar bed sheet
eucalyptus comp it's very easy don't
don't let anybody tell you different
super super easy all right guys I hope
you got some good nuggets from Colin
story that you can apply to your own
business but if you're feeling a bit
stuck and maybe you don't have an idea
yet or you just want to go deeper on how
to actually make your first dollar well
I got something special for you I'm
hosting a free workshop for all of our
subscribers where I'll be sharing how I
built a million-dollar business on Just
2 hours a day I'll walk you through
exactly how to find your own
million-dollar business idea how to
execute on it and how to make your first
dollar from it it's all Frameworks
coming from personal experience because
it's the exact path I took to build
starter story and eventually quit my 9
to5 just a few months after I started so
head to the first link in the
description to save yourself a seat I
hope to see you guys in there much love
and I'll see you in the next one peace
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