The Most Inefficient Part Of E-Commerce Has Been Fixed transcript

I'm just constantly amazed at how bad e-commerce Supply chains are they're loaded with inefficiencies and probably you watching or listening to this episode right now of this show have a drastically under optimized supply chain it is in my view the single place in e-commerce where people have done the least work to make themselves better and more efficient and therefore there is the most loow hanging fruit and so if you were a true supply chain expert and you were building a brand from the ground up how would you actually do it and how would you build it that is the question that animates and begins and runs through this conversation with L gavara the CEO of more Staffing and its sister company move supply chain Lara is like probably the deepest supply chain expert I've been around in e-commerce she lives in the Philippines she's in China a lot she understands that world really well it's a two-hour flight for her to get to Canon where a lot of factories are like there's a lot of deep experience there and Lura can bring all of that she is starting an e-commerce business and in this episode which is sponsored technically she just walks through her e-commerce business she's starting and how she's building the supply chain for it and it is way more detailed and way more thoughtful than what you thought of when you built your supply chain I can almost guarantee you that I know that because as I say in this episode I'm also considering starting an e-commerce business and I've gotten her help on my business so listen to this episode you're going to really like this if you want to begin to think about how great supply chain thinkers think about their supply chain let's jump in with Lara gavara L Gara back on the show probably the smartest supply chain person I have been around in DC not prob I mean not even probably you just you the more that I've worked with you the more that I understand how your brain works there's just nobody I've talked to who understands supply chain more deeply than you um in D Toc I'm convinced supply chain in D Toc is the most under optimized part of so many businesses um you told me a funny story you said um that when you get on calls sometimes with people who are coming to you for supply chain Consulting you love hearing about how bad their supply chains are is that right I mean it's actually very very challenging like you feel alive hearing that there are problems to be solved as a as a problem solver it's like I I I want I want to do this I want to help I mean obviously you want people to be successful but it sounds like you just salivate when you hear like what is what is like happening because these businesses Supply chains are so under optimized um yes yeah and so I just want let's take some time on this episode The fascinating thing about that is you are working with me on a brand that I am building um I have not said much about that to anybody and we'll see how much I say in this episode about that but I've started to kind of put some things out there so I've watched your supply chain work um like I've like really really closely I've seen exactly what your team does and it's mind-blowing here's like just a little thing I'll see to people within the first week of working together with you and your team your team had contacted reached out to 50 manufacturers for for the product in a week and I know like brands have been around for years where like they have not talked to 20 and uh if not 10 I mean it's just crazy so um there's there's so much more I could say and another 30 packaging manufacturers so so um at some point along the lines like I will definitely be talking more about that business that I'm working on but um but for you um for you you are also working on a brand of your own and I I think the sort of interesting thing to chase down here is like how do you build a supply chain for a brand that you yourself are working on when you have the level of expertise that you have in supply chain like what does it look like to be Best in Class like I think I think if I'm I'm building a brand I know exactly what my Facebook ad account is going to look like when I build my mine for my brand right like that's part the launch strategy is I'll and I'll be able to say like here's exactly how I'm going to do the build here's exactly how I'm going to set the whole thing up because like this is this is my bread and butter right so for you though you know among the many areas in which you you have a lot of knowledge I think part of that is the supply chain component so um so maybe we start like say say whatever you want to say about what the brand is and then um and then let's just start breaking down like how you've approached the supply chain there and what that is creating in your business and we can just kind of go piece by piece so before I I start with the process and and how advantageous uh for me it is to work on a brand with while being a supply chain expert I just wanted to give a brief background on how this uh brand VI um was born it it was actually from my journey as a cancer survivor and who has faced mental health challenges and then these experiences combined with my background in Supply Chain management showed me a crucial Gap in uh how do we um how how do we support people dealing with their health and wellness Journeys so um I've experienced receiving gifts at the time and I've I I experienced um having the the lack of of material support for the uh for for the treatment sessions for example or things when I when I was uh when I was Bing cancer so we we transform I aim to transform Wellness gifting from a gesture um um perspective into a meaningful support like every product every bundle and every service we offer is designed with real experiences in mind ensuring that um each gift provides practical comfort and genuine support when it's most needed um in whatever Journey um you're in so I know for sure and you told me something fascinating when you were at my house that I had never thought about which was that people maybe gifted you like head scarves when you when you were going through your cancer journey and you and you had lost your hair but that a lot of them were like uncomfortable or something and that they were uniquely uncomfortable to you and so it was a nice gesture but and you appreciated it you were not you were not complaining but it was just like oh but like you understood that that it felt a certain way on your skin that nobody else could really understand if they hadn't gone through it themselves that was a sort F story yes when I saw so I you know that a supply chain person or a sourcing person when they saw a product they will immediately check what material it is is size what what can be improved so when I got the gift it's of course um I was of course very grateful for that gift um but it's very different having that material um touch um a hairless bald head as compared to some someone with with hair so it is I I told myself that I'm not going to use this and I'll buy my own um not being not being um with attitude in that but I I said that I will I will wear something more comfortable and I didn't find one everything I found in online is similar to what I was I have received so that's one one major pivot moment for me that I there are there is really a huge gap in in in this scenario and it started from there and it it continues until the very end can we maybe maybe it would be helpful to stay on that particular product for for a second I think it's sort of an interesting one because um because if we do that then we could say like so what when you start to see that let's just take that product you begin to go pursue a better version of that product so you said you know as a supply chain person you start looking at the materials I watched you do this with the product in the category that I'm working on where I I showed you an example product and immediately you flipped over the product and we're looking at the ingredients and going like oh that's easy to Source that's hard you know you just you you you saw through the product to the ingredients okay so what did you so you saw that these head scarves these headbands were were made out of what material and then what did you do next so so like where did that tell me like give me give give me the sense of like what your mind did with that and then and then what you did because of that so I I immediately um checked the material it is um 100% polyester and I also um checked the shape it's a beanie it's actually a beanie for that most commonly used term but um when I saw the the product description in the website it is definitely dedicated to cancer patients um so when I when I checked that I and when we started working on a beanie at this point I made sure that I I have at least four additional um materials with me that I have a Swatch book with so when I went to China I really asked for a Swatch book so I can have that feel of the material I I know on top of my head that cotton is a very good alternative for that I'm not sure how it will transform into a beanie so it's actually having the capacity to reach out to a vendor expert in this material and convert it into a sample ask for sample and then um test it ourselves like test um give it to someone that is experiencing that right now and telling us which of these material is more comfortable the most comfortable so it's it's using it's it's using the best um practices or what I've seen is best for that product which I think is the shape so it's when you when when you're having treatment or it's like um a cancer treatment the shape of the Beanie is um I I if I remember it correctly it's termed slashed where it's not fit but it has a little a little bit of space at the back to for the breathing and for air and for for for that um aspect and so um I said that I really wanted this shape because that's the shape that I I think it's perfect for that but the materials should be changed and um logo or any any design should avoid a certain area so from there I we received samples and we test it out and we found what kind of material is more comfortable at the same time um managing the cost because we know Kashmir 100% Kashmir and 100% wool will be will be the best option but it's not going to be um practical to use those for for everyday uh treatment or everyday going out okay so all right that's awesome so this is like a fundamental thing I think a lot of people deal with which is they get the product idea they have an idea of what the ideal version of it is and then they have to play this game which is like what are the tradeoffs I have to make between cost to protect margin and quality to protect quality um yes and so um I've been thinking about this tons you hear me talk about this every week on our call um you know I I think in DDC margin is this incredible cheat Cod one of the reason I think Supply chains are so bad in DDC is that I am convinced that brands are making it so much harder on themselves because they are not fighting for margin at their product by sourcing manufacturers and by looking at materials and thinking about better ways I mean shipping there's like a million things we can do here that I've heard you talk about a lot of times right um and so but this starts at the level of like product development that you're talking about so um okay so where did you go with this with this product like what what became how did you play that game as you've developed the product I don't know that you have a finished version of it yet but like you know how did you think about that in terms of you know projecting out the price point for the product thinking about what material you wanted to end up at and then starting to sour suppliers and all those things too so how did you deal with that trade-off first I made sure that in the beginning I have a range of um unit cost and and landed cost to work on and then eventually after like sourcing tons of suppliers and type of materials I came into a resolution that I will be for example using um a maximum of $7 unit cost without um just unit cost not not with the landed cost yet and so from there I was able to uh identify that I can I can I narrowed down um materials to at least three that can um that can be used and and all of before you get to those materials Laur really fast so you decided $7 was the maximum you wanted to pay at the level of cogs in product how did you how did you determine that number um first is I I researched other um mark Mar uh marketing research and at the same time I I learned I have a computation as well of of course what I wanted to like revers computation of what I wanted to how I how much I wanted to sell it and then from there computed seven it includes all packaging because this is a very giftable product so that cost includes um box box packaging which is very unusual for example for the beanie if you order a beanie in Amazon or other online you will receive it in a op bag plastic bag but for us you will receive it in a in a very uh giftable uh looking um box so that's a that's the the those are the non-negotiables that I have to consider not just with the unit cost but also because this is a very giftable product okay so then yeah and that means the pricing probably has to be about right too right so you want to you want to put it at a price where people are going to gift it in the right range of of price that this makes a lot of sense too so do you um do you um okay so you landed on $7 is the most you wanted to be able to you wanted to be able to pay for at the level of cogs basically okay so that got you to three materials you were saying that's when I cut you off it's 100% Marino wool 100% cotton and the third one is a combination of both um comb combining both is in the middle cotton will be the cheapest and wool is the most expensive and all of that is below the Target that I that I set and I have like since I have like eight vendors doing samples right now um I will be able to identify when when I receive some of them but when I receive all of them is to really um short list not just with the quality of product how the craftsmanship but also all the information like mq lead time payment terms and our relationship with a vendor because we some of these vendors are the vendors of section 119 for four years already so why why choose another vendor if the relationship is there already but depends um also so we the more um options we have I know that the better um the better product that we can that we can choose for launch how many manufacturers did you first reach out to I reached out to probably 20 20 manufacturers in the in the space my advantage is that when I started reaching out to beanie suppliers I was in China so when I went to Canton Fair all um majority of the the vendors that I've reached out to I met in person negotiated in person and so it's it's a lot easier but and at the same time apparel industry is my longest experience uh is part of that so I know a lot of vendors already it's a lot less than it's a lot less and Le less effort for for us for yeah you didn't have to start fresh whatever but you still I mean even even with the depth of experience you have you've been working on apparel Supply chains for a long time like I know that's how you got into e-commerce was working on Section 119 with Greg Carrey who's been on the show as well like the so that's an apparel brand so um that's interesting I didn't think about that that makes a lot of sense did you um the flight from Manila to C Canon to go to Kon Fair how long is that yes two hours it's it's very you saying you've become essentially a local in Kon you you know your way around there really well huh yes yes I've been there um three times and and in in those visits I stayed for two weeks so it's definitely it's a very good um place for business and and every every most packaging vendors and high and big big vendor are um have Manufacturing in that area yeah that's that's really interesting okay so you get eight vendors or you get samples from eight different vendors you narrow it down to there and now are you in the process of waiting for those to come is that where we're at in the process for this yes so a lot of them is coming in so I have like um two vendors to submit their samples waiting for six more and from there I'm I'm I know that I can choose for myself but I'm also creating a small community here in the Philippines with um undergoing treatment to really test test it for me so it's it's more I I I with with data and then experience okay so then with those vendors there's eight of them you said you're going to all come in under $7 what do you think it's going to amount to uh like what's it looking like if you target with seven bucks what what is it coming down to so before we sample we I already know they're asking uh their quotation so we have everything um in our record right now a lot of um the most for me the the most um the closest to I think what we're going to choose is around 6.2 um USD per per piece with a box how much you said um $6 $6.2 per piece yeah awesome and it's the 100% Marino W that's that's actually I I have in mind what to I have in mind my top one I just wanted to make sure that although I know theor theoretically and based on my experience this is going to be the most comfortable and the and then the vendor has the 30 pieces mq 30 days the time it's it's I still wanted to really get that sample to make sure that I did not shortcut the process and I did not cut the process and I have an actual sample with me with the vendor that you have you got $6.20 which is 80 cents under your target which is a lot I mean that's more than 10% under your target right I think I think I did that right so that's great um you um and you're getting a 30 piece mq and a 30-day lead time yes 30 days 30 days unbelievable that is very fast and very small order so you can test really really quickly here that feels that feels like it's um yeah that feels like it's a really really big advantage so you actually talked about like going in person and negotiating in person with some of these folks what did you negotiate at this stage of things what were the what were the things you were what you were negotiating I mean I mean price is the obvious one but like I'm sure that wasn't it so I think this is where the first process when when we I just wanted to compare what we do in Move versus what I do with my brand because with move we make sure that we first understand the the goal of the business owner because sometimes it's not all about um the the pricing as you said I have particular brand and and you know this brand um that has a like has a budget for the highest quality possible product that we need to source so there are also brands that have that will tell you that this is our Target pricing and so different um goals will have different um priorities so I have to know that first in move I have to make sure that it is clear and we are aligned with a goal in mind for me in VI the cost is um probably in the in the middle of the priority the number one priority is before I I choose a vendor to help us I make sure that they understand what are these products for so that they know and then they can somehow feel that the journey that we're into is not just in the Philippines and not it's not in the US Chinese vendors are also experiencing the same so when I connect emotionally with them showcasing what is this brand for if they will literally support me and help me identify the best products for this so it's not it's like I'm not just building it for myself the community is building it for us so the vendor now working with me and my team is is working on the best product that can um support um the the the branding itself so for me number one isq for now because I want to play around a lot of sqs and and um I don't have the the budget for for ordering a lot of pieces so if I have to choose between number of orders versus number of SKS I will definitely choose excuse because even colors sizes has to be present when you're gifting and at the same time it is not much of the lead time because I will be using 100% portless for this so I don't have to consider 30 45 days shipping time for that and um followed by the quality is is people might not know portless but this is an important part of what you just said which is like so portless is is I mean you you should explain I know who they are but you should explain it it's a pretty cool it's a pretty cool thing yes so um this is actually um this service is going to help a lot of brand that that uh the products they're selling is not very um heavy and and not very huge in terms of Dimension because they have their facility which we visited um few last month in in guango they have a very huge Warehouse facility wherein they they um send um all the products from China direct to customers so that removes the shipment of via Sea from China to your Us warehouse or that removes your cost in in shipping via air because you don't have lead time enough lead time to deliver your product so everything all of the all of your products will be delivered in that um massive Warehouse in guango and um you are when they order they will connect of course your your Shopify to their system and then they will be receiving the orders from from your customers and they will Pick and Pack they will send it they can send if I remember it correctly 10,000 shipments a day um direct to us and the experience is really good because the um because the customers receive a US tracking number and not not another tracking number so it may take I believe within 5 to n days um for for for the products to arrive it's it's a little bit more than the usual but the amount that you save from from from shipping it to your Us warehouse to doing it via portless is is very huge and at the same time the costing because you skip the shipment cost for for that which is around 35% right now Andrew uh when you do that so um just just a very very quick computation if you wanted to check how much it will cost after the unit uh after unit cost 35% and that's what you're saving so when when so I'm I'm planning to use that all products will be there I don't have products that is very very heavy and and huge so um that's my main priority so that's that's that's a service I think that's really interesting like so portless is awesome um I think for a lot of Brands it's something that they they don't export they should and I know I mean your your mind for these things um makes me not at all surprised that youve you've locked on to using them for certain scenarios but one of the things that stands out to me is that if I make the connection between something you said on the supply chain side you are building it to reflect a decision you're making about the Distribution on once it actually gets to the customer side so the idea of like lead time being less important though I think actually 30 days is still pretty good um like you're you're now going to have a really short lead time and it's less important to you from the actual manufacturer because you're don't have to deal with ocean Freight to some Us warehouse or something like that right where it's going to add a couple weeks or whatever to to all that so um so that allows you to approach the negotiation process really differently and I think I think you I think you expressed something very similar when you talked about like cost versus um cost versus quality like in this case you're talking about a brand where like the quality is a huge deal um and and your number one goal actually isn't really squeezing out every penny of margin though over time I'm sure you'll be able to negotiate those things down more and all that but it's a really interesting thing to hear you sort of connect what you're doing on supply chain side to your distribution strategy on the back end in a way that is like really thought through from start to finish this another thing I think people just like haven't really considered like because the problem with portless um obviously is that it takes longer than like delivering USPS mail right but there's probably some products where like if you're unique enough or um or uh or if there's just not really a situation where it's going to be something that's going to get rushed you know like it's fine it's not it's it's like a little slower than maybe people would like but actually it's not true that everybody expects Amazon style shipping and like so yeah I I think there's there's just um a real opportunity to use something like that for the right brand but like your decision about that has got to be in relation to the product that you have whether not it's a good fit for Port lless like all those things so anyway that's just what I hear in that is there's like a lot of decisions there I want to ask you oh go sorry I just to um just to give more context on that I think that's really true what you've said when your product is can be can be bought in Amazon definitely doing this is going to be an a disadvantage for you because Amazon can do it the following day um delivery so you have to really consider it's a huge opportunity but it depends on the products that you have and and the unique value proposition that you offer for the product yeah yeah I think more brands should be trying it um at least seeing if it makes a difference for them um okay so I want to go back to something else you said which is that you negotiated all these in person you got people thinking about your brand you got vendors doing this I think in the US a lot of people look at Chinese vendors and just think of them as sort of like um not cold or something like that but just like like they don't care about my business they just they're not they're not really Partners there's like a culture Gap and a and a geographical Gap and they're just whatever but when I hear you talk about this you're going in person telling people about the brand recognizing the these people get cancer too and that they understand what you're trying to accomplish and that their cancer stories and their cancer Journeys matter to them and of course you mean the brand that you're talking about here is is pretty powerful and it's in a in a unique way right but um but like I've heard matab um matab has said this on my show M Bogle he said get on a get on a plane and go to China and meet your vendors like um one of the things I have loved about working with you on my brand is that like with at least packaging providers because my my brand will not be manufactured in China you did that like you went and did it and you are an extension of my team and like and and um I think that's that's awesome so how how important do you think that is that you were in person with those vendors yes and that that that two-hour flight as opposed to the you know 15 or whatever hours it would take me how how uh how big of a deal is that so first of all I I just wanted to share my experience how I saw shift in relationship when when the the client visits or the Chinese vendor visits the us because they sometimes have also trade fairs in the US that they attend to I think the the um of course because of the cultural differences and um language barrier sometimes it it permit it limits the um the owner and the manufacturer to really build a relationship over we chat over Alibaba profile and so um breaking that the only way to break that is if you meet and really like discuss something deeper aside from the business itself so I I I one of my process in in in negotiating not just for Vi I shared with you that with VI I I informed them what this is for but it has been a process for me that before I negotiate I explain what is this brand what is the goal of the owner the OWN owner um appreciates quality first and foremost and so we need to make sure that all of the samples that we are going to send is of highest quality Then followed by cost whenever I whenever I share the purpose the goal and the vision of the brand they they feel connected and they feel that they are part of the brand and when they do that they do um extra mile for for you and for the brands and for the owners like what like similarly to what I've experienced even after visiting their manufacturing seeing all the seven levels of the production of the Beanie for example when I went back to the Philippines I still received random message from those vendors saying I think this is good for head without hair it's very very very um very thoughtfully um they are just sharing with me I I know it's business sales but you you don't experience that with other vendors that you don't have relationship with so having having to um have a someone to represent your brand and and build that connection is um very important and at some point if you're getting your main products from from China although you can get the service of move to do that it's also very highly recommended that you go there yourself I I I really um agree with meta on that because it's we're going to help you a lot but you're you will experience a different kind of shift in your business with that vendor when you go there yourself it's just relationships at the end of the day I I think about you and I like like you've been you've had we've had a meal uh in LA and then you and and one of your teammates came to my house we had dinner and you brought stuff for my kids and they still talk about Miss Lara coming and you know whatever and it it really matters like you know and and those are the kind of things that help make it better so that we can actually deepen um you know just that kind of parts of working together in ways that like make me now more invested now I'm coming to the Philippines later you know and we're GNA go it's just it all and and now I mean in some way Laura you're connected into every single I say this in my ad reads all the time but you and your team are connected to literally every part of my business at this point and I and I think I'm connected to every part of your business at this point too like I actually now am touching everything that you are doing and and uh I I do think the relational component of that is a big deal especially across cultures like it's just there's like stuff where we have to get to know each other in a little bit of a different way and so I know those are long flights for you from the Philippines to La you know but yeah that said I have I really appreciate the the idea that on on my stuff that we're working on that you can that like I could have team members who could get to China really fast if we needed to you know and really easy yes and and you would be a sincere extension of my team especially because you know there's two Services right that you guys could theoretically offer to somebody that would both make sense here one of them is move supply chain which we mostly kind of probably what we're talking about here right where it's like an agency style supply chain service a Project based service for Supply chains um you know and there's that but of course somebody also could hire through more Staffing the staffing agency that you run that we've been talking about for a long time a full-time supply chain person and um and you know the same the way you have been with Section 119 and some of those things and yeah and so um there's a real way to sort of depending on how much is needed here to have that really be like a part of this team so I um I think it's a I think it's a super um compelling thing that you guys are just so close to China um and that's sort of a unique value ad to where like working with somebody in the Philippines in this case I think for me I've seen it as like a a huge advantage and then of course someday um someday of course like yeah maybe I would go visit a manufacturer in China as well or something but um but yeah um that's that's interesting okay um we got a few minutes left still what um what else in that process I can't remember where we left off I was curious about that so uh oh you were talking about quality process yes yeah yeah so what you were looking for you know you're you're talking about quality um as like the kind of the other big thing that you were looking for anything else in sampling process you want to you want to talk about yeah I think one one advantage that I experience is that I pay less sample fees um but that's related to relationship so I get to experience and to see the actual products in per in in person when when you can request for for samples for free you just pay for the shipment so um we're not we're using our per or our time our project project management um sheet and we still make sure that we don't cut on on the um process of new product development and um at the same time so so from the uh from the negotiation in person making sure that before we we before we even sample mq lead time payment terms are are already set we also have the um we talked about having the advantage of using portless and of course the um inventory planning system that I'm planning to introduce it's it's not yet needed right now but of course it's going to be a huge help that the allocation process um the the amount of since we have a very low mq and we have like to consider just 30 days lead time as compared to usually 90 days if you wanted if you wanted to ship it via C then we have the leverage also to order smaller quantity um versus versus those who who needs to order higher qualty so I I think one of um one of the important process that I also applied in in VI is the banding system wherein a lot of products can can be sold together and I know that I could help my marketing I could help you to help me if if um I have products that goes well uh and and and is good to partnered with with different products so we create a system where we create products not just to uh not not not just aesthetically beauti but they are also Innovative in in in many many ways that you can um for example this um water bottle that has hope that you have like um a compartment here and there's a pill case that you can put inside or other important like powders um um medicines that you can you can use for that so it's not just a product a giftable product it's a product with with purpose and I'm very proud to I'm very proud to say that my my team um in Inver they are they they came from different experiences work experiences in in the Philippines and they are all have um experienced mental health that's why when we discuss we understand what product do we need to do like yeah I I make sure that they they they somehow feel that they really part of this is for us this is for the community and this is not just for me so when we decide on on design it's it's not me who's who's deciding on design it's the community deciding on the design so it's more of a of a team building and so having having U an idea what product to sell plus uh making it Innovative for people that needs it and at the same time having the people to build it that has the experience and understand the products is is really really helpful but at the same time I think this is the downside of this all with all the advantages that I've shared is you're going to be too attached and I have I've I've had that experience because for a year I have all the products in mind and I didn't do it I didn't start and it took me a year to really make that move and start because I I was too attached with the idea the brand um the logo and so when I decided no this is not the important part of why I'm doing this business this business is for for the community for those having for for those who needs this product so I have to really do a lot of meditation and selft talk that I have to delegate I cannot do it myself I have to trust other people to do it for me and so those team members that I have right now those are um they are a product of my training lizelle is actually a product of my training program um Andrew and so Omar so a lot of members like yeah like Micki they they came from different um work um experiences before and they show interest in supply chain and they want to grow they have they want to have a growth plan in in the remote setup and so getting previously $2.5 per hour from a Filipino company they're getting a minimum of of5 to7 to start as a trainee is is something that is very helpful for them so it's it's somehow the learnings that I've that I have to really get off is to detached trust the process delegate and do it with the team because I cannot do it uh for myself just with myself yeah I I try to that's so good I try to make this point all the time that one of the things you guys are are like it's just like for us teams like it's just the ability to pay people the the the the the wage when you you quote those numbers 250 versus 5 versus 7 and five or seven is an upgrade for these folks and their early career right I mean this is not like a these are younger employees who are coming up just like anybody would right they're going to make more money than that in the future but like the the that's just um yeah it's just it's just easy to see very quick how far um a dollar can go for hiring incredible Talent um in the Philippines and and like you know the two names you just mentioned um uh who they're working on my brand like um I uh I think the world of them both I think they're awesome it's funny they at times I've gather that they're like younger they're newer you know what I mean they're like their earlier career and all those things they have a couple little ticks where you're like oh yeah okay I get I get that like um where where it's just just earlier career you know just is what it is um I had those too um but they're they're really smart really talented and I'm I I mean enough so that I'm like great keep going like I I trust you so much on these things that they're doing I've told my co-founder on that business like um uh like I I don't actually think we could have done this without without using you guys like I really mean that like I think like we had this idea for this business and relative to doing it the way that we were doing it as side gig kind of thing I I I don't know if it ever would have gotten off the ground like it just and and now not only is getting off the ground but it's getting off the ground at least in my case with the two people you just mentioned trained the way they are um in that my business case with cogs with margins that are going to be um at or better than the Target that I had which is like the core proposition of the business and look anybody who's listening to me talk talk with you and other people about the notion of p&l design knows that when I say that I have a very high margin in mind so um like you know we're aiming really high on our margin and um and we're going to get it uh with with that help so um I I don't think we could have even gotten the product done without them and and certainly not at a reasonable mq at a reasonable lead time and with with the margin that I wanted if if they were not doing this and so they're really good quality employees and then of course they have this opportunity to grow and keep being trained and recruited and stuff so yeah it's it's um it's really cool to see the way that stuff is trickling down from from you and uh I'm glad to hear you delegating like it's you know you you're just so talented it's hard to have somebody else do it for you I know um but like yes the the the standard is really high especially if it's your product but yeah it's you really have to let go and and and Trust the process that's that's yeah yeah what I learned yeah yeah okay um people should follow up with you in a couple ways there I we could talk a lot more and I bet we will do future episodes um where we just kind of keep talking through this processes it on holds you know maybe we can do a whole episode where we have a brand reveal party where we really show all the products and everything for both ours that' be fun um but we um when we do that um we should uh well I was say people should follow up with you um there's a whole bunch of stuff you're doing but but for more and for move um you can get more staffing.com and you can just DM me by the way if you want to get in contact with Lara people do that all the time or um email podcast ajg.com um and I'll I'll connect you straight to Lara or to the right person in L's team um and so more Staffing is the staffing agency move supply chain is uh the supply chain agency anything more you want to say about those two or what you guys are offering or anything like that yeah so um I think it's all starts with me understanding the business needs so I think a discovery call is very very important because I can help you identify if you need an independent contractor or if you need an agency right away because different um the both service has its advantages over the Ty what level you're in in the business so um even if you don't get the service it's very important to discuss with a supply chain mindset that what what position you're in so that we can help you identifying what would be the best next step for your supply chain Department especially if you don't have one yet before and so um I think whatever solution either hiring independent contractor and or or getting an agency the first step is for us to understand what you need right now and so a discovery call is very very helpful and then we can we can go from there cool the links for all that stuff in the show notes of this episode of course um and again you can email me podcast ajg.com where should people reach out to you Laura at supply chain laara on X which Laur is also a great follow there for for lots of this kind of stuff but um where where should people email you yes so the email that I've uh been using is Lara Staffing that's okay cool and she'll direct you to the right service for that um take take her up on that uh like I said I'm I'm using it myself this is the reason why we've had a relationship for a while where she's been a sponsor um uh of mine and all those things so um anyway Laura you're the best I'm excited to hang out in the Philippines pretty soon yes see you see you in two months Andrew yeah yeah all right bye okay seriously you should follow up with Lura in your business if you've made it this far in this episode you probably have uh something about this conversation that grabbed you I am constantly Amazed by impressed with Lara and her team I gush about it all the time but uh really almost everything I touch at this point in some way involves Lara and her team and uh and I just am so grateful for that so follow the links in the show notes whether you want to hire somebody full-time in your business from the Philippines with more Staffing or you want sort of an agency Project based service move supply chain to look at your supply chain she could probably tell you in one call if she can help you so um so definitely go check out those links they're both in the show notes and in the description of this um to go do that thanks again for Lara and do give her a follow on X she is really really great there at supply chain Lura so uh I will talk to you next time thanks so much for watching thanks so much for listening [Music]