Working a full-time job and running a business takes focus, particularly when large retailers approach you to fulfil sales and inventory demands.
Listen in as I ask Tri to share his success story, from watching YouTube videos to having product fly off the shelves.
You’ll learn:
- What it takes to stay committed and on course.
- Why focusing on the power of one will explode your business.
- How to overcome your fears and let your brand shine.
Entrepreneurship is a series of failures until one day it isn’t.
– Tri Tran
Liked this episode? Comment below.
– TRANSCRIPT –
Tri Tran: [00:00:00] Entrepreneurship is a series of failures until one day it isn’t. Literally that’s all it is. It’s just, you fail and you fail. And then all of a sudden you wake up, you’re like, wait a minute. One of the things that I did worked, yeah. This is crazy.
David Wood: [00:00:12] Welcome high-performing entrepreneurs and business owners.
Do you suffer from shiny object syndrome? Do you often feel scattered and distracted making it hard to implement your plan with all the ideas and strategies coming at you? Do you often wonder if you have the right goals and plans? Welcome to Extraordinary Focus with David Wood, where we help you achieve way more in less time.
Get the laser focus you need. So you can double your business, double your impact in the world and be an even more extraordinary entrepreneur and human. Let’s dive in and stay tuned at the end for your gift.
Hey guys, David Wood from Focus.CEO with another episode of extraordinary focus. And I’ve got an exceptional man here with me.
Tri Tran is a client of mine. He’s in my seminar coaching program and he’s a pharmacist by day, but at night, he is up until 4:00 AM packaging his product which just went viral. He’s also a consultant to other e-commerce entrepreneurs. He’s got a couple of great brands and he’s holding down a full-time job while doing all this. Tri Tran. Welcome.
Tri Tran: [00:01:21] Hey guys. Thanks Dave. Thanks for the intro.
David Wood: [00:01:24] And I wanted to get you on the show because I was already impressed with what you’re up to. Like you’ve got a full-time job. How many hours do you normally do at your job?
Tri Tran: [00:01:33] Yeah, 40 plus.
David Wood: [00:01:34] 40 plus, right?
Tri Tran: [00:01:35] Yeah.
David Wood: [00:01:36] Yeah. And one, one of your jobs recently was to roll out the vaccine, right, to Delta airlines employees.
Tri Tran: [00:01:44] Exactly. So typically every year I immunize about 3000 employees yearly. That’s not even starting the new COVID one that’s about to start. So I’ll probably double that this year.
David Wood: [00:01:55] Yeah. So I think you’ve got an interesting story just from the point of view that you’ve got a full-time job and you’re running a business and you’re running it with someone you’re quite close to.
Is that right? As a partner in the business, tell us about that.
Tri Tran: [00:02:10] Yeah. So the partner I had was back then my girlfriend. So she’s actually the person who started all this. I remember I was sitting on the couch and she was like, Hey, let’s sell on Amazon. And I was like, yeah, sure. Whatever. Then a month or two goes by and then eh, sure.
And then we finally got into it. And then now, like we are basically fully invested in, became a brand and we started literally on the couch watching YouTube video That’s how we started. Yeah.
David Wood: [00:02:35] You’ve basically got two full-time jobs now. You’ve got the pharmacy thing and then I was really.
It really stood out to me when you said we’re up till four in the morning now shipping orders, because you’ve got a great success story here. You’ve been pushing, pushing. When did the first wins, before we get to this massive viral hit, that’s just happened. I want to tease our listeners a little bit, but what were some of the early wins that happened?
Tri Tran: [00:03:00] Yeah, I remember us, first starting selling Amazon and I think what everyone should start doing test small. So we bought, we went to Walmart or something and we bought some hand wraps, some boxing hand wraps. And then we just listed it on Amazon. So I think they’re like, we bought them for $5 and they were listed on Amazon for $15.
And I remember it was our one-year anniversary, me and my girlfriend back then. She’s my fiance now. But yeah, I proposed to her, so I remember us, we were in New York city on vacation and all of a sudden I get a phone notification, I have a set where it goes and so it goes Kuching and then I was like, what’s going on?
And then. I realized that we had just sold those same things that were listed in less than 24 hours. So that was like the game changer that was like, like the first sale that we’ve ever had. And, then I realized there was something here. Yeah, that was our first win, our first real big win.
David Wood: [00:03:55] Wow. And then tell us about what happened with Urban Outfitters.
Tri Tran: [00:04:01] Yeah. After that, we launched a beauty brand first called love and pebble and that’s, really focusing on, skincare and which my fiance is really big into. We basically just created a brand, started selling on Amazon, created a really good website, social media and all that.
And then we were actually reached out by Urban Outfitters. We, at first we thought it was a joke. We, we this is spam, this is not real. But then we realized it was actually the buyer from Urban Outfitters reaching out to us. And yeah, so we got in there we started a relationship with them.
I think it’s almost been about eight months now that we’re selling strong and they just sign us on for their spring line as well and summer. So we’re just pushing out products to them as well.
David Wood: [00:04:41] Wow. So they came to you? Yeah.
Tri Tran: [00:04:44] Yeah, it was the, it was crazy. We were just like, this is not real.
And then I was like, okay, it is real after we talked to them.
David Wood: [00:04:51] That’s amazing.
How many entrepreneurs will be pushing, trying to get their products into some big names. And then you got Urban Outfitters. And I remember. I remember one point you’re like, are we ready for this? Wait a minute.
We’re really new here. Should we say yes and hope everything works out. And I think you decided to go with a yes, right?
Tri Tran: [00:05:11] Yeah, we did. It’s, the e-commerce space is pretty easy as lot easier, not as scary. But once you get into big box and retailers and you have those relationships with them it does, it is a different game.
So that’s why we were nervous, but. Yeah, that’s the right move. Yeah.
David Wood: [00:05:26] Yeah. Could have flopped, right?
Tri Tran: [00:05:27] Yeah. Could have flopped. Yeah, for sure.
David Wood: [00:05:29] Yeah. Wow. And then what happened one day when you started noticing you’ve got a new, you got a new brand called Dose and Remedy, right?
Tri Tran: [00:05:40] Correct.
David Wood: [00:05:41] So tell us about what that new brand is and then what happened that, that really surprised you in a very good way.
Tri Tran: [00:05:47] Sorry, lost connection. Hey, so basically what it, what happened was launched Dose and Remedy, as another brand. Mainly cause I’m a pharmacist, right? So I wanted to tie in my professional job with the e-commerce. At first I launched a hangover supplement, which, and also Asian flush. So a little thing that happens with Asians is we get red.
Yeah. So I do the formulation after we drink it.
David Wood: [00:06:14] I know when I was traveling the world, when I was 20, I’d be drinking with this Japanese guy and he’d have I dunno, half a glass of beer and then just go bright red.
Tri Tran: [00:06:24] It’s bright. And that’s, that was, we, I spent about a year and a half just formulating that right before we launched the brand, because I knew I wanted to have a cure for it.
So a remedy, that’s why we called Dose and Remedy. So we launched that. It was doing super well. And then the pandemic hits and then no one’s going out. No, one’s buying. So that was the struggle, the first struggle with that brand. While I was launching that I had always wanted to launch a immune support.
And basically that’s, every year I give immunizations and what people don’t understand is half the reason why you get the immunity is not just the vaccine, it’s your own body’s immune system. So I wanted to find something that maximizes it. So yeah, I formulate, I did all my research, I went back into the books, literature and I came up with a formulation.
And I launched it in the summertime. I was super excited. I had to go through so many trials to get it approved and everything. And I finally got it live and then no one bought a single bottle. It was like heart. It just broke my heart because I knew I had this really good formula based on all the studies I read.
Cause there’s no other formulation like this. So then it goes along and we have this bunch of inventory. I’m just like, how am I going to sell through all this? There is expiration dates on all my supplements. It’s, they’re all formulated here in the U S in Atlanta, actually. And I just was I don’t know what to do.
This is going to hurt me financially, right?
David Wood: [00:07:50] Yeah. It’s brutal to launch something and just hear crickets.
Tri Tran: [00:07:54] Yeah exactly. And so then I basically I was like, okay I’ll just, try to sell as much as I can. Whenever. Tried everything. We’re doing wholesale, anyone that comes through, Hey, do you want to carry this in your store?
We’re just trying to sell it, maybe a breakeven. And then I, it was like the week of Christmas, I just started seeing my sales just start, like going up. And just one sale, two sale, five sales, 10 sales. And I’m like, what’s going on with this? And it was my immune support. It just started selling through to the point where I think we sold through all of our stock and inventory at Amazon in a day or two.
And then we send another bunch of inventory and it’d sell in a day, like in 24 hours, it would just sell.
David Wood: [00:08:35] You’re having trouble keeping this on the shelves.
Tri Tran: [00:08:37] Yeah, exactly. And I was just like, what is going on? So we did some research. So apparently there is a lot of studies that actually were published and a lot of people that came out saying that these four ingredients help lessen the severity of COVID.
David Wood: [00:08:51] So they’re searching now on those.
Tri Tran: [00:08:53] And I looked at my formulation. Mine was the only one with those four ingredients. So based on the studies, based on, and not only that, the four ingredients, but what’s really important to me is the dosages. The same four ingredients, the exact same dosages that they all found in the studies, my product has.
There’s other ingredients with the ingredient there’s other products with ingredients, but not the dosages. So my product just went through the roof where, to the point where I showed you some pictures before, but we just, we ran out. We had to fulfill it ourselves. Of course our, all of our products are made at the facility, but packing it out, shipping it out is where we were, had to do it manually.
So it, it’s been a blessing. It’s on the rise even more now. But you should, the best part of this is the feedback that I’m getting. So I’m getting like tons of emails, thank you so much for making this. This is really helping me and my family. It’s just, it’s a rewarding feeling when you create something that helps people out.
David Wood: [00:09:53] Yeah.
You got such a great success story to see it go viral, to see all this feedback. And I know you had one woman locally who said, I need it now. I can’t wait for shipping and you actually drove it over to her.
Tri Tran: [00:10:07] Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So she couldn’t wait. And so I was just like, okay, she’s local.
We’re based in Atlanta. So I just drove it over to her.
David Wood: [00:10:15] Did you remember film that drive? I bet you didn’t.
Tri Tran: [00:10:19] I did not. I should have. Oh my gosh. Yeah.
David Wood: [00:10:22] So I want to pull, I let’s break it down so that we can all learn from this. One thing that you did. Is you took something you knew a lot about. So I love this backstory here, that what you do day in, day out as you vaccinate people, boom, there’s a credibility.
This is a guy on the front lines, vaccinating people. The second thing you did is you did your research. You didn’t just throw something together, you really studied it. And you said, I think this is what people need. Which set you up, for when someone else released something saying about the same research and it blew up, you’re the only one who’s ready.
You’re the one ready to catch the ball. So I love that. And then something else you did was. Creating these videos about the experience, I think is so clever. So you sent me a video of which was really clever thing you put on Tik TOK of you with a production line. And you’re like, got all the things lined up and staying up to four o’clock sending it out, which then goes maybe even more viral.
And people are like, Oh, I got to get this stuff. He’s having even trouble keeping this on the shelves. And then that, that’s maybe a little bit of a lost opportunity going over there, but what a cool thing, like I’m driving over here right now. She wants it right now. And then with permission, if she did give the permission, like if this happens again, I imagine you’ll film that and you’ll put that on Tik TOK.
Is there anything else that you feel like you did any tips for our listeners that you did to set yourself up for this viral ride?
Tri Tran: [00:11:57] I think the main thing that’s an, you just gotta, you gotta keep throwing things at the wall until one sticks. I think like my favorite quote that I don’t, maybe I even made up with this quote, but you probably helped me with this Dave too, is that it’s entrepreneurship is a series of failures until one day it isn’t. Literally that’s all it is. It’s just, you fail and you fail. And then all of a sudden you wake up and you’re like, Wait a minute. One of the things that I did work. Yeah. It was crazy
David Wood: [00:12:24] Yeah.
I just said this on an interview I had before this. People see the success and they think, wow, that was really lucky.
Or you must be amazing to have done that. They don’t see the 999 other things that I did that went nowhere. If you, the law of large numbers, you try enough things. Now, one of the tricks is like, how do you know when you should just keep on being persistent with something or when to drop it and try something else.
How deep do you go?
Tri Tran: [00:12:54] Yeah, that’s the question for all entrepreneurs. I think the way I set everything up is I do have an exit strategy. So even though I had all these inventory that wasn’t selling before, I had a breakeven point where I could drop the price or liquidate it somehow, or, just get out of the, this one venture. And I think going into almost every kind of like a business or a product even, I have that kind of in mind. So I would start with that. But other than that, it’s. It’s it literally is, just throwing things at the wall. I have, I think my SKUs now, or I have nine SKUs and one of them is just, my inventory is tied up because it’s not selling it’s terrible.
It’s it was the worst move ever. There’s other ones picking it up. So it’s just one of those things, yeah.
David Wood: [00:13:41] So it sounds like you need enough irons in the fire. So that one will work or enough hooks in the water. So you do catch that one fish. I think I mentioned in the intro that you’re a client.
If I didn’t, I’ll have to go back and record it, I’d be remiss. If I didn’t ask you, how has coaching, if at all helped in the journey? What are some of the things you’ve been facing, trying to make this happen that you feel coaching has really supported you with?
Tri Tran: [00:14:05] I think it’s focus. That’s why it’s Focus.CEO right?
You need, it really is. It’s my biggest challenge is I have too many ideas and I think this is one of the things that you said to do is just focus on one idea for how many months. Was like 12 months. So just focus on one thing. And that really has helped me explode even more because I turned down opportunities because it’s Euro.
As you become an entrepreneur, you think everything’s an opportunity. And then a lot of them aren’t right. So I really have streamlined that and just really focused and really just put in my time and effort into the one thing. So I think that’s the main thing that it’s helped me with.
And then also like the longevity of the focus. That’s the hardest thing too, is like, when you start out, you’re so focused. You’re like so energetic. You’re like, yes, I can do this. This is awesome. Then one month comes by then six months, then twelve months and two years. And then at two year mark, you’re I’m enthusiastic about it.
I’m like, this is awesome. But I don’t know. It’s just like you lose that fire and that edge, and then you lose that focus. So that, it always goes back to focus and the drive. Which you need, because you’re gonna fail a lot of times. Like the worst thing to that takes away focus and drive is failure, but you’re gonna have a lot of that failure.
David Wood: [00:15:24] Yeah.
And you don’t want to fail 10 times and then give up when the 11th time might be the one thing, right? Exactly. Tri where can people find this immune support, particularly now while the pandemics running rampant? Where, how can they get get a hold of this?
Tri Tran: [00:15:41] Yeah, so we sell on like walmart.com, but we actually sold out of that.
Amazon is our last place that we have inventory left. We typically have it at walmart.com, our Shopify store or Amazon store. I’m sorry, our website and then Amazon. So those are the three main platforms for now.
David Wood: [00:15:56] So if they go to Amazon, they’re searching on dose and remedy. Is that right?
Tri Tran: [00:16:00] Yeah. Dose and Remedy or a dose of immunity. That’s the name of the product.
David Wood: [00:16:04] All right, great. And the big ingredient that’s in there. I keep getting it wrong. I want to call it corachicin and then it’s something else. Yeah.
Tri Tran: [00:16:11] It’s corsitin which is, yeah, that’s the big player. That’s what you want. It boosts zinc.
It’s also shown to stop entry of the virus into the cells. So that’s the big thing. So it stops the entry of the virus into cells.
David Wood: [00:16:28] All right. Awesome. Dose of immunity, find that on Amazon. And anything else, any parting words of wisdom for entrepreneurs and you’ve given us a lot already.
Tri Tran: [00:16:36] Just keep going and I think like really knowing who you are and don’t be scared to like really have your brand show that. Because that’s how you can be authentic. And I think that’s something that a lot of my customers and patients are finding from this brand that, Hey, this is you and I trust you.
So that’s the scariest thing to do, but you have to do it.
David Wood: [00:16:59] Yeah. Yeah, that’s good advice. And you’ve done a nice job with the Tik TOK videos showing, putting a face on it, putting a human face. This is what’s going on. This is who I am, so that they can trust you. Tri Tran. Thanks for being on the show.
You’ve been listening to Extraordinary Focus with David Wood. Now to achieve way more in less time. To double your business and your impact in the world. And to be an even more extraordinary entrepreneur and human, make sure you get your gift basket. It includes a cheat sheet to double your focus, a short video to implement the steps and a free focus audit to identify the number one focus leak in your business and how to plug it. To get all three of these goodies.
Just go to myfocusgift.com If you’ve gotten value out of this episode, tell your friends and nothing says, keep up the good work, David, like a review, which helps us climb in the rankings and reach more listeners. Now let’s be extraordinary.
