Nov 22, 2021
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