I Make $1M/Month From Bed

Summary

In 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

00:00

💰 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.

05:00

🚀 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.

10:01

🛍️ 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.

15:03

🛠️ 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.

Keywords

💡Million-dollar business

A million-dollar business refers to a company that generates annual revenue of at least one million dollars. In the video's context, it represents the financial success and scale of the business being discussed. The transcript describes how the founder built a brand that reached this milestone, with specific strategies and marketing tactics.

💡Bed sheets

Bed sheets are a type of bedding, typically made of fabric, that are used to cover a mattress. In the video, bed sheets are the core product of the business, and the transcript details how the company 'Sheets and Giggles' became successful by selling these online.

💡E-commerce

E-commerce, short for electronic commerce, is the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, as well as the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions. The video's narrative revolves around an e-commerce business model, where the company primarily sells through its website and Amazon.

💡Marketing strategy

A marketing strategy is a plan for reaching a specific marketing-related goal in a focused and achievable way. The transcript discusses unconventional marketing strategies that the company used to drive sales and brand awareness, which contributed to its success.

💡Brand identity map

A brand identity map is a visual tool used to define and communicate a company's brand identity. In the script, the founder mentions using a brand identity map as a foundational step in building the company, helping to visualize and understand the business they were creating.

💡Direct consumer brand

A direct consumer brand sells its products directly to consumers, bypassing traditional retail channels. The video's company, 'Sheets and Giggles,' operates as a direct consumer brand, primarily selling through its own website and Amazon, which is a key aspect of its business model.

💡Kickstarter

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform where creators can raise funds for their projects from the public. In the video, the founder's involvement with a Kickstarter campaign for a wearable tech idea is a pivotal moment that led to a life-changing mentorship and the eventual creation of their own business.

💡Founder market fit

Founder market fit is a concept where the business idea aligns well with the founder's skills and passions. The transcript emphasizes the importance of finding a business idea that fits within one's existing skill sets, which is a strategy the founder used to build their successful company.

💡Email list

An email list is a collection of email addresses that are used to send out newsletters, promotional materials, or other correspondence. In the script, the founder talks about building an email list as part of their validation process, which later contributed to their successful product launch.

💡Content creation

Content creation refers to the process of developing and producing various forms of content, such as written articles, videos, or social media posts. The video's transcript mentions content creation as part of the founder's strategy to engage with their audience and differentiate their brand.

💡Personal engagement

Personal engagement refers to the direct interaction and communication between a business and its customers or audience. The transcript highlights the importance of the founder's personal engagement with their audience, which helped to build a strong connection and contributed to their business's growth.

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