#98 - Work Stress Induced Hemorrhoids & The Downfall Of Many Entrepreneurs

This episode of the Bare Performance Podcast takes us behind the scenes as Host Nick Bare and his team gear up for a turbo-charged season of growth. Bare Performance Nutrition is on the precipice of great new things and ready to soar – an exciting lift-off that wouldn’t be possible without years of trial, error, planning and perseverance!

When he founded BPN just about 10 years ago, Nick could only glimpse the many lessons he would learn throughout the ensuing journey. In this episode, he shares thoughts on where the company has been, big plans for the future and his evolving definition of success. The team is just coming off an action-packed period in which they’ve hit a lot of big goals:

• Participation and filming at the Leadville 100 Ultramarathon.
• Release of a well-received documentary based on the Leadville experience.
• A big premiere celebration of “More Than Miles” in downtown Austin.
• An all-out celebration weekend for BPN Ambassadors from around the country.
• Primary sponsorship at The Rogue Invitational in Round Rock, TX, featuring topnotch CrossFit athletes, including some from the BPN team.
• A hugely successful early Black Friday roll-out that netted 25,000 orders in just a few days’ time.

With all these milestones in the rearview mirror, BPN is focused on a huge shift planned for 2022. Going forward the company will have a wholesale/retail orientation that has required intensive planning, expansion of HQ square footage and many exciting changes, including bringing business functions in-house and hiring talented new staff to join the team.

Nick’s Q4 update also includes important reflections on success (which Nick measures completely differently today than he did a decade ago) as well as the importance of failure. He offers a powerful lesson drawn from hard-won BPN experience. Hint for would-be serial entrepreneurs: New ideas and opportunities are going to arise. Don’t let them take your focus off the core business!

BPN’s high-stress, high-stakes early Black Friday operation exceeded all expectations. The orders flowed smoothly, broke records and set the tone for a great holiday season (one BPN employees will share with family, thanks to their clever Black Friday pre-launch).

As a friendly little public service, Nick wraps up the podcast by getting real on the topic of hemorrhoids, an affliction he first encountered in college. You’ll appreciate his candor, humor -- and the colorful information he provides!

Click here to learn more about  "Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness," the book by Tim S. Grover that has contributed to Nick’s development as an entrepreneur.

To view “More Than Miles,” the new documentary just released by BPN chronicling the 2021 Leadville 100 Ultramarathon experience, click here.

• (0:07) Intro snapshot of the pod: Marketing activity and growth that have occurred in the last quarter of the year – as well as a glimpse of what lies ahead for 2022.
• (2:20) BPN is at a pivotal moment, making the shift from primarily (85-90%) direct-to-consumer sales to a wholesale and retail business model with lines of big-box.
• (3:20) You can keep an eye out (and start asking) for BPN products at outlets such as GNC, The Vitamin Shoppe HEB grocery stores and Army & Airforce Exchange Stores (AAFES or PXs).
• (2:38) Accelerated community engagement just since August has included:
• • Leadville 100 Ultramarathon
  • Production of Leadville 100 documentary ("More Than Miles") – which the team put together in an intensive, intentional six-week period followed by a premiere in downtown Austin at the Violet Crown Theatre.
  • Hosted an all-out celebration weekend for BPN Ambassadors, who enjoyed all kinds of fun activities in and around Austin.
  • Primary sponsorship at The Rogue Invitational in Round Rock, TX, featuring topnotch CrossFit athletes, including some from BPN’s own team.
  • Early Black Friday launch – a win-win-win for hardworking BPN staffers who were able to go all-out with their holiday shopping season push but also get ahead of the game, freeing them up for some quality time with family/friends over Thanksgiving Weekend. (PS: It was BPN’s smoothest Black Friday to date and netted 25,000 orders, including more than 100,000 units.)
• (14:25) If something goes wrong and the system breaks down on Black Friday, the opportunity and reputational costs are enormous and impossible to recoup. Nick shares just HOW stressful this reality is for him each year.
• (18:43) All About Hemorrhoids: Nick gets real about his history (including his first golf ball-sized experience at an inopportune time in college).
• (27:16) What’s on tap for 2022 – a big-growth year ahead:
• • Bringing all business functions in-house, including marketing and communications campaigns.
  • Honing in like a laser on BPN’s core business.
  • Working with 20,000 square feet of new space, in addition to the 25,000 square-foot facility already in place.
  • Shifting to a wholesale/retail sales orientation.
• (30:42) Nick explains companywide impacts when moving to wholesale/retail.
• • Direct-to consumer is a relatively clean transaction:
  • • Upfront payment for product.
    • Straightforward cash conversion cycles and inventory planning.
  • Wholesale/Retail includes a different set of variables:
  • • Merchants offer different sets of terms, not always favorable.
    • Negotiation is required to ensure that the deal is fair.
    • Factors to be considered include pricing, profit margins, discounts, volume, terms of payment.
    • There is an art to managing cash flow around POs (production orders).
• (31:53) Bringing a new CFO (chief financial officer) onboard at BPN has been among the most significant recent tactical moves, especially with regard to scaling the business and forecasting complicated cash conversion cycles.
• (34:10) Nick and his brother complement of each other. Where Nick is a natural with marketing, sales and mission, Preston’s strengths and interests lie in tracking, managing and optimizing operations.
• (37:30) You can only do so much by yourself. You’ve got to attract and bring onboard talented people who truly “get” the mission. Do that and “you can delegate responsibility and see teams just grow – just destroy it!”
• (38:43) There are no successes without failure. Nick shares thoughts about one in particular of his own! Confidence compounds, but at every stage requires more and more personal sacrifice and investment. As the cycle continues, often accelerating, it’s easy to start over-committing and saying “yes” to any opportunity. It’s a way to learn in the beginning, but as your business starts to grow the goal is to stay focused and on task, even amidst increasing, often tempting distractions.
• (41:27) 2017-2018 – Flush with new success and hitting seven-figure sales, Nick saw an opportunity to start a new company and become a “serial entrepreneur.” He went all-in on Lost Supply Apparel (you can hear the whole story here) but the systems, foundations and infrastructures just weren’t there. Nick and his team were spread too thin and everything (especially BPN’s core business) suffered.
• (47:20) The good news on failure? It’s the best – maybe the only – way to grow. Nick really enjoys being able to share lessons learned, hopefully to save other new entrepreneurs from making the same mistakes.
• (49:22) Too often success is measured monetarily. What does your bank account say? What are your revenue figures? What you wear, drive, do. But that path often leads to a real sense of loneliness. True fulfillment is found in authentic purpose and a close crew who support you in that pursuit.
• (50:00) Compounding consistency: That pinch-me moment when BPN is up there with national brands at Dell Diamond stadium is a manifestation of the company-wide willingness to “go one more” – and ongoing one-foot-in-front-of-the-other effort required to get there. Failures are investments in future entrepreneurial success!

“The one thing that makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur being willing and able to take massive action on things. You’re also willing to take massive action on things that come with risk.”

Further Contacts/Resources:

Bare Performance Nutrition: www.bpnsupps.com
BPN's Instagram: www.instagram.com/bpnsupps
Nick Bare: www.nickbare.com
Nick's Instagram: www.instagram.com/nickbarefitness