Advice Line with Richard Branson of Virgin

0:05 Hello and welcome to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz. This is the place where we help try to solve your business challenges. Each week, I'm joined by a legendary founder, a former guest on the show who will help me try to help you. And if you're building something and you need advice, give us a call and you just might be the next guest on the show. Our number is 1-800-433-1298. Send us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and the issues or questions that you'd like help with.

0:39 You can also send us a voice memo at hibt at id.wondery.com, and make sure to tell us how to reach you. And also don't forget to sign up for my newsletter. It's full of insights and ideas from the world's greatest entrepreneurs. You can sign up for free at gyras.com. and we'll put all this info in the podcast description. Alright. Let's get to it. Joining me this week is legendary entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group. Uh, Sir Richard, it's great to have you back on the show.

1:10 Uh it's always good to be on your show, so thank you. You were a guest uh on the show back in twenty seventeen. It is an incredible episode. If you guys have not heard it, we will put a link In the episode description, um Of course, Virgin is such an iconic brand, it is really well worth going back and listening. Uh, the story about how you started a student magazine in the seventies, I think you went and interviewed James Baldwin in his hotel room.

1:33 Uh, then you start a mail order uh record business when you were twenty, and then you turn that into virgin into Wow, an an empire of of record stores, cinemas, uh record label, cola, vodka, airlines, trains, phones, banks, hotels, space tourism. Like more than two hundred businesses over the past fifty years. It's just an incredible story. And just just a few years ago, after we talked You blast it off to the edge of space in your own

1:59 Rocket ship. Yeah. Um yeah, that was that was quite a ride and um it had been a dream come true. I dreamt of going into space ever since I saw the moon landing and then um Yeah, the last twenty years we're we're we're trying to build our own spaceship and our own mother ship and our own rockets and

2:19 Finally we got to space. So it was it was definitely a a um a pinch a pinchy moment. It's it's amazing. Um Richard, be before we get to today's callers, um I I I wanna ask you a couple of questions. Um When you started Virgin, right? And we start this record store and you and you and the you gave it this name, Virgin At what point did you think

2:42 You know, this could be a brand That goes way beyond record stores. Oh, it's a good question. I mean I I've never really been interested in building companies with The money motive and I've never really thought of myself as

2:56 Being a business person. Um And I never really thought of myself as building a brand. I just was having a lot of fun doing things um that That I thought could make a difference and Uh and it sort of turned out that I think because we were

3:11 Enjoying what we were doing. We were Sticking our neck out. Um Uh doing it in a fun way. Suddenly we had A brand that was

3:21 you know, perceived as one of the top you know, top maybe top ten brands in the world. And Um but it wasn't something that we planned. It w it was just something that Um you know, it happened over time. I mean Who who is such an important brand builder, right?

3:37 W what do you think? a brand, what are some of the elements that a great Brand needs to needs to have, needs to to develop. I think maybe the most important thing is that you m you must n first of all never

3:50 let people down. Um so every new venture that Virgin's done over the years We make sure that it it's brand enhancing and it's better than what what we did before. I mean if I take our latest Venture Virgin Voyages. Uh we've now got four beautiful cruise ships out there on the seas. You know, every single little detail the team got right. Um it's it's virgin through and through.

4:16 adults only, you know, a really fun experience. Um and people who go on it. Get off. Uh singing its praises. And uh So that

4:26 that that then makes it that much more easy for us to then launch the next virgin product and Will make it that much more likely that somebody who's been on a virgin voyage will will will want to try a Virgin Atlantic plane or a Virgin Active Health Club and So the the the key thing is just to make sure you're the the the best in your field. So if you're if you launch a cruise company, it's got to be the best cruise company. If you launch an airline, it's got to be the best airline.

4:51 Um and um And you mustn't compromise at all. Um along the way. I mean there's there there's virtually no other brand on earth that is in so many different categories. It's quite remarkable. I'm curious, I mean, today, obviously there are thousands of employees all around the world involved with Virgin Group, and so there are people who can telegraph and transmit what it means to be a virgin brand, but But when you have to do that, how have you been able to m to really make sure that people understand

5:22 what virgin means to you so then they can take that Idea. and that meaning and translate it into a A great product or service. Well we have an advantage and that is that

5:35 Because we w we're involved in so many different ventures around the world, um, if we set up a new virgin company, um I can you know, pull in people from our trains company, I can pull in people from our airline company and and they already know what it is like to have worked for a virgin company. So

5:56 You know, and for instance we're we're just looking at m maybe taking on Eurostar through the channel. Tunnel. Um and the designer that I've got to look at Designing trains that will

6:08 You know, make USR look like old trades. i is the designer that created the Heathrow Clubhouse um in London, which, you know, has been there for many years, but Anybody who flies with Virgin will talk about the Virgin Heathrow Clubhouse and And she did a magnificent job there. So, you know, she'll do a magnificent job for our trains.

6:32 what we're trying to create is completely fresh ideas with any anything we do. So uh our team have to always go A little bit above themselves. I mean you've taken really big swings. And you you have had some very public failures. We talked about them when you were on the show back in twenty seventeen, I remember Uh but you you keep

6:51 Trying out. New ideas, new businesses. Even now. And and I can't ca I I imagine you will do this until the day you breathe your last breath. What What drives you to keep

7:03 to keep at it. to keep starting new things all the time. You know, you only live once and I think you you l you uh you know, I've s I've had fifty five years of Building businesses, but also building not for profit organizations to try to

7:18 tackle the problems of the world and you know, apart from our businesses, we have twenty global organizations that we run on a not for profit basis. Looking at all issues from climate change through to the state of the planetary boundaries, uh to conflict r resolution issues.

7:35 Um to drug reform and so on. Ah. It would be, I think, such a waste of a life if you if you get find yourself in a position where you can pick up the phone to pretty well anybody in the world and get through. And by getting through

7:49 Hopefully. get things done, uh you know, get get change made. So I don't want to waste the position I'm in. Um Well I will I I will continue working. Day and night most likely until I drop. you know, want to be proud of you know what you know, what our wonderful teams are creating and and

8:07 And I can sort of you know, like I'm in Canada today. Launching uh flights from Toronto to the UK. And you know, I've just zip lime down the Niagara Falls as as you do. Um it helps to have somebody who's you know, the the head of a company to be the icing on the cake. Um everybody else has done all the hard work in getting the airline up and up and going and and getting the check ins desk sorted and the lounges built and the

8:33 uh the cabin crew trained and the pilots trained, and then I can come in and And try to make sure that people know that we've launched um uh London to Toronto or Toronto to London. And And then it gives it a a better chance of succeeding. Richard, having you on the advice line is kinda like having Michael Jordan at a sports clinic. So I'm super excited for the entrepreneurs today. Why don't we uh go ahead and take some calls. Are you ready?

8:57 I am as ready as ever. All right, let's do it. Let's bring our first caller. Um, please introduce yourself, tell us uh your name, where you're calling from, and just a little bit about your business. Yes. Hi Guy. Hi, Sir Richard and everyone listening. Lovely to talk to you. Great to be here. It's truly an honor. Uh my name is Lola Banjo and I'm calling from lovely New York City. I am the founder of Silver and Riley, an ethical luxury brand that makes travel and fashion accessories. We handcraft Italian made bags that blend gorgeous style, heritage, craftsmanship with modern innovation and functionality.

9:31 All designed to elevate your journeys. All right, awesome. Lola, thank you for calling in and welcome to the show. So Silver and Riley You make uh travel gear, b like oh purses, bags. Tell me a little bit more about what you make. Yeah, so we make travel and fashion bags um which include duffel bags, um we have women's handbags, we have um men's messenger bags, we also have small leather accessories like passport holders, wallets, card holders, um, things like that. Yeah.

10:01 And I heard I h heard the story of um How you were on a on a flight one day and it wasn't a virgin flight, I hasten to add. Business class passengers. Exactly. So that that experience inspired you to start a brand. That inspired me to start Sir Richard, I'm so honored that you actually know that story. Um I was traveling weekly as a management consultant, right? So

10:31 That's one of the reasons I was on that flight that was really freezing. And I was just like, you know, Sir Richard, you always talk about your best ideas are born out of frustration. And I was so frustrated during that flight. Like, everyone needs to have these travel conveniences and why aren't they these travel conveniences? And That's what inspired me to start the brand. Well, Richard was inspired to start an airline'cause he couldn't get a flight back from the Caribbean, I think, right? So there you go. Tell me a little bit about um how the business is doing so far. Yeah, the business is doing great. So we launched five years ago and we are a seven figure brand. We're still a young brand, but I'm very proud that we are we have clients across twenty seven different countries. Um we have nearly fifty percent repeat customers. Fourteen percent of our customers own five or more products from us. Um we and and that's when an average AOV of around six hundred dollars. Yeah, we're primarily direct to customer, but we're also partnered with major retailers. Where are you where are you selling your so direct to consumer mainly, but where else are you are you selling? Yeah, we are also partner with Nordstrom, Sachs, and the summer Macy's Bloomendales as well. So um definitely build in and we just launched five years ago, so

11:39 I I'm proud of where we are, even though we still have a lot of work to do. All right, before we get to um before we ask you more questions, what is it your question that you brought for for us today? Yeah, absolutely. So um I grew up with humble beginners and it's been really um there's been real challenges, real trade-offs, rejections, and failures along the way. Uh the space is not necessarily built for someone like me to thrive in. So my question is, um Sir Richard, you have built an incredible purpose led global empire in some of the most competitive and capital intensive industries.

12:13 Um, what helped you stay bold and mission driven when the odds were stacked against you and resources were tight? And Guy, I'd love to hear from your vantage point as well. What advice would you give a founder um like me that's building with deep purpose in an industry where those values can be at odds and where uh you know the lack of capital remains our biggest challenge. All right, we'll get to them. Um Richard, I wanna bring you in because c uh clearly Some parallels in d in the early part of your career. Um so so so thoughts for Lola. Look, first of all you've got

12:45 Uh b bundles of personality. Um You should be able to sell the go in and sell sell sell anything anybody anything. But um Thank you so much. Yeah, so I mean in the early days of Virgin, you know, w we we were doing something we we passionately believed in, which was Uh we had a had a magazine and Um there was the Vietnamese war going on. We thought it was an unjust War and

13:11 Um so we were campaigning very strongly against the war. So we w we were we very much had a purpose and we surrounded ourselves with other people who believed in our purpose. And so people worked enormously hard to day and night to make the magazine succeed. So I mean I think Yeah, that

13:31 With your company you have your you have a purpose and if you can inspire your team uh t you know to Embrace that purpose. Um I feel absolutely sure that you'll you'll you'll succeed. Um

13:44 As to the second half of the question, over to you, sir. Yeah, Lola, a quick question for you is w how I mean With a brand like yours, I know you've you've broken through s uh seven figures in sales, which is awesome. You know, you're five, six years in, what an incr and the I'm looking at your website and your products are beautiful. Just very briefly, how are you connecting with customers? How are you making this a personalized experience? Yeah, we actually we we probably over anchor in personalization. Um, down to handwritten notes and you know, just how our CRM personalizes the experience as well. Um our clients, um our family, we address them as part of the Silver and Riley family and I really see them as such.

14:26 Um and I think that's why they keep coming back, you know. Uh uh almost a half uh fifty percent repeat customer rate um and you know just making sure that they all feel like they're part of the story. You know, we I personally do outreach. And I know that's not necessarily scalable, but in the early stages that's something that, you know, I have really leaned into Is it true that you wish them uh happy birthday on their birthday? Yes, we do. We actually have CRM that does that. So I know But that's the great thing about about the many of these things are scalable, right? Like I mean you look at great brands like Virgin, right? When you go on a to a a a Virgin plane or a train

15:03 um you know, or use a virgin product or hotel, you're going to get a a level of personalization. you look at brands like Zappos or uh or Nordstrom where you know you're working with them, I mean they are One of the th the the reasons why those brands are so successful is because they've leaned in on customer service and customer experience. And so The c to me, the question isn't how can we continue to do that, it's how can we not, right? Like it the it that's really the the the value proposition here. And so when you build that into the mission that and sort of the culture of the organization, that's gonna inform every decision you make, right? I mean

15:41 I I think that's sort of the way you guys operate at Virgin, Richard. Yeah. And and No, just thinking. I mean if we If somebody has a problem on in one of the virgin companies, generally speaking, I'll ask the companies to make sure I know about it. And Uh

15:56 If we deal with it. Yeah, right. properly. I mean if I do a handwritten note and You know, really take a bit of trouble over it. Um That customer will be

16:06 Your your friend for life and they'll they'll they'll tell another. Yeah. Um so you know with the birthdays, um the more personal one can make make some of these things the better and the more genuine the um the better.

16:22 Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think um That's also why what drives a really high referral rate for us as well. Seventeen percent of our our new clients come from existing customers. Uh I learned this also from from my mother. Um you know, she passed away but when she I was younger, she had a bakery and I remember every single person that would walk through the bakery doors She remember very little details about them that made them feel good. And I always took that away from um from that. Um and so the handwritten notes, which of course is not scalable, but I still do them. You know, during Christmas time I'm writing hundreds of handwritten notes every day. Uh and my team is like, just get it printed. And I'm like, I get the feedback from our clients that say that makes me feel seen and valuable. I do worry about when we're scaling globally, how I can still maintain that. So that's something that I I am watchful for. But um you know, it's something that really, really means something valuable to the brand. And so I'm I'm grateful to be able to continue that and personalize that just like Virgin. I remember my first virgin flight. I was just like, This is the best airline ever. Like, you know, I didn't even have status in virgin and they still treated me amazing and just I just felt really great. And I felt like you know what, I want every silver and right client to feel like that as well. So

17:35 Another company that we started when I was very young w was a recording studio in In um The countryside in Oxford and You know, we'd have artists coming every two or three days and

17:48 In time, you're just not gonna remember all the little things about those artists. So like say Frank Zappa um comes to the manner, you know and you have a conversation, I I would after dinner go and d and write a few things down, like you know, the name of his wife and then you know the the the name of his children. You know, his mother may have been ill or something. You know, just

18:10 Little things so that you know, a year or two later, or five years later, they come again And you you can actually remember one or two of these personal things which Just makes such a difference. Um So I mean if you're going to

18:24 Yeah. chain of retail shops and you you have a chat with the you know with the head of the retail it's worth uh going to the loo afterwards and just taking a note of some of the things the person said because c it's so good to be able to drop it into the conversation the next time you see them. That is great advice. Reminds me about of of how Bill Clinton used to keep index cards of everyone he met, and then of course paid back in his spades when he ran for president. Um Lola Banjo, the brand is called Silver and Riley. Thanks so much for calling and good luck or cheering you on

18:54 Yeah. Following your good luck journey. Thank you, Guy, and thank you Sir Richard. Um Guy, I have to say how I built this has just gotten me through some of the toughest times. So you're doing amazing work. So I just want to say thank you for everything you do. Great having you on. Yeah, that that's such good advice. I mean, this idea of remembering details. When you see somebody, you know, even a a year later or two years later and you remember something, the name of their spouse or a kid, like people are just blown away by that. It really stays with them. Yeah, it i it it it really, really is important. Alright, we're gonna take a quick break, but we'll be right back with another collar and another round of advice. Stay with us, I'm Guy Roz, and you're listening to the advice line right here on how I built this lab.

19:48 Welcome back to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Roz, and my guest today is Virgin Founder Richard Branson the Legendary. Richard Branson, Richard, let's bring in our next caller. Yeah. Hello, welcome to the advice line. You are on with Sir Richard Branson. Uh please tell us your name, uh, where you're calling from and just a little bit about your business. Yeah, hi guy and Sir Richard. I'm Ross Novotny from Phoenix, Arizona. I am co-founder of Now Pools. Now Pools is the world's first and only on-demand pool and spa company, so think pools as a subscription. I love this idea. Ross, thanks for calling in. I was just in Tucson during the middle of a heat wave and it was really hot. So I can imagine um pe a lot of people might be really interested in a temporary pool. So this these are temporary pools. You could basically can rent a pool and you you go and

20:39 Put it in someone's backyard. That's right. Yeah, we take care of all the headaches of owing a pool. So um you can subscribe to our service. We go out and we set up an above ground pool. Then we take care of weekly cleaning and maintenance and chemicals. Any warranty issues and then we remove the pool when you're done with the subscription. So you get your yard back. Well, how did you come up with this idea? So uh my wife and I adopted our kids when they were a little bit older, and uh having sort of young rambunctious kids uh wanting to send them outside in the middle of the summer in Phoenix seems like cruel and unusual punishment. So we uh you know I wanted a pool, but didn't want to spend the money.

21:19 And didn't want to lose our yard, so I thought there had to be some sort of temporary way to to make all this happen and thus the uh now Pools was born uh in in that sort of crisis moment as a parent. I love it. And just briefly, Ross, what tell me a little bit h about how the business is doing. I know you started this in tw twenty twenty. What are your sales been like? Yeah, w this year we'll cross uh a million dollars um lifetime revenue. So I mean, you know, we're we're getting there. Uh it it's been slow going, a slow build, but

21:49 Positive, really positive reviews from clients, a lot of return clients. Um we've had clients for five years now that have come, you know, back year after year and we're gaining uh each year in our subscriptions. So uh slowly but surely we're we're growing market share. And I'm looking at the a picture of the large pool, which is quite large actually. I mean you could have a bunch of kids in there. How much roughly how much does it cost to to rent it? So it starts at six seventy five a month and then uh goes up to eight twenty five for um the shortest time period. So the longer you sign up for the the cheaper it becomes per month. Awesome.

22:24 And what's your question for us today? Yeah, so I Question regarding marketing. And you know, specifically, Sir Richard, I a huge fan of yours and you know all that you've done with your bold non-conventional marketing. And now pools, we're trying to create an entirely new market that's never existed before. So what kind of framework or strategic approach might you take when you're trying to launch something that the world doesn't even know exists? Alright, so Richard, uh we've got Ross has got this brand, this company in Phoenix, starting in Phoenix with I guess uh plants expand, where you could rent a pool for the summer and it's built in your back yard above ground and they take care of everything.

23:03 How should he Uh start to Well you may have some questions for him before you answer his question. Um Well look nice nice to talk to you and uh what a great idea. So I mean it's definitely servicing a gap in the market. And um And presumably, just for first question, um presumably you don't have to get planning permission for a a a pool that you just put on the top of the on the top of the ground.

23:24 Correct. Yeah, every municipality across the country is gonna be different, but no, y no permit required. Wh which is fantastic,'cause I I mean, presumably with if you're digging a pool you would have to get permission, is that right? Correct. So so that and and do you push that point um a a little bit? Yeah. We we don't necessarily think we are um adversarial to in ground pools. We think we're we're serving a little bit different markets. Somebody who wants a a temporary solution, someone who may not have the the funds to buy an in ground pool. And and also we really push the temporary nature of it. You can have a pool for just a few months at a time.

24:02 Um if your plans change and you want to go on vacation one summer, just don't get a pool from us and then maybe come back the next year. So I mean is it word of mouth that um the uh you know you you put one pool in and then s a neighbor sees it and they they then want one for their house? Is that the main w way it's being Yeah, I would say uh word of mouth has been our biggest driver. We've you know the earned media we've been on the news and in sort of some traditional uh media outlets several times, but we're We're we're trying to make a bigger splash, no pun intended, to to be able to really get the word out there that we're even an option people should consider. Have have you done any sort of fun gimmicks in in the pools? Um got got any

24:42 Interesting. Uh people swimming swimming in the pools or anyone. But other than that, we we've done some events, whether it's uh concerts, uh we've done some festivals and and you know, trade shows and things like that, and even had uh recently like a canine uh uh police dog event where they jumped into one of our pools, which was pretty fun, but haven't been able to still get that critical mass that we're looking for as far as awareness. Uh I mean w with with Virgin what I tried to do was just do Something fun that would get you on the front page of the papers or the f in the news or something. And and I was just thinking earlier that

25:20 You know, if every time you o opened a pool you could have a m a mermaid for an hour or so in the in the in the pool or something which would attract attention. But um whenever we launch something new, we would Uh we would come up with something which would make people smile. Uh and did you have a a strategic approach to try to come up with those marketing events that really caught people's attention? Um Because I do it every single time we launch a new venture.

25:47 I I never quite know what's the b what's about to happen, so I mean when I turned up in Australia to launch Virgin Mobile Um they drove me from Sydney out to a field and there was a helicopter there and And and I thought Oh that's nice, I'm gonna get in a helicopter and the next moment They're putting a a bungee thing around my waist and and I'm I then uh heading into Sydney a hundred feet.

26:11 Blow the helicopter and And landed on top of a big cage and I Have to rip the cage open and free up everybody who were l locked up with contracts. Oh on other mobile phone companies. So um Coming up with

26:27 something which will make people smile. Um A mermaid somehow fits. Somehow fits with uh tools. But all of these things are so smart because they attract media attention and buzz and hype. And I and I you know, of course, you know, we're Ross, you're not Richard Branson, but there are there are elements and ideas here that I think could work. I mean Um you know. obviously you you want to think about Putting this up for a couple of days a week.

26:53 Free swimming, you know, even at like church fairs or block parties, community gatherings, like I mean, I would even think about doing something analog, like radio. in the Phoenix area, you know, y it's gonna be a hot summer. How about a pool to cool down? I mean even cool videos that you could geo target, you know, uh through social media just to sp to specific types of of customers. Focus some of your attention on identifying your target customers, right? And once you do that, you start to use stories. that sort of build around the product and around the appeal of this.'Cause it's to me it's a no brainer, especially in a place like Phoenix. Maybe maybe once a month, um you could just turn up at

27:35 uh an underprivileged school and and um you know just set up a pool there and bring some fun figures that can come and rollock in the pool with the kids or something. I mean just You know, just surprise the parents, surprise the school and Actually, you know, a lot of the parents m might end up wanting one of your pools themselves. So I think a little bit of that might might be good as well. I love that. It's a great idea. April A A April Fool's Day. I know it's just gone by, but I I always found April Fool's Day was a was a great day where you could um

28:07 put your products on the map in a in a fun way. Um We once built a UFO as you do, and uh We flew over London at four AM in the morning on April Fool's Day in a UFO and uh the whole of London got into a panic and the radio stations, the police, um, the army were called out. We landed in a foggy field and uh Uh and the door went very, very slowly down and um

28:33 This little E. T. figure who was a friend of mine was dressed up in in a little E T figure walked walked down and this policeman who they'd sent out to Meters just ran in the opposite direction. But you know, we we got the headlines. Mermaids and aliens. Yes. It's been not hopefully it's been useful to you, but doing a few Yeah, I mean it since you can you know, fill it up with water and then leave the next day, you could you can actually you know, you can pop in to worthwhile events um and make people smile as well.

29:06 Yep. For sure. Um Ross Navatny, the the company's called Now Pools. Um good luck. It's a great idea. I can't wait to hear more. Thank you so much to both of you. Cheers. Yeah, thank you so much.

29:19 I love it. Mermaids, you can have like scuba divers in there. I mean maybe put some tr tropical fish inside. I mean, right? You've gotta get attention. You gotta get People talking about it. Exactly. And uh no, I th I anyway, he's he he's obviously got the business side and uh and now it's the marketing. So good best up best for him. Alright, we're gonna take another quick break, but we'll be right back with another caller. Stay with us, I'm Guy Raz, and you're listening to the Advice Line.

29:48 right here on how I built this lab. Welcome back to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Roz, and today I'm taking your calls with Sir Richard Branson. Uh so Richard, let's bring in our our last caller. Welcome to the advice line. You are on with Sir Richard Branson. Please tell us your name, where you're calling from, and a little bit about your your business. Hey guys, Sir Richard. Uh thanks for having me, yeah. This is an honor.

30:24 My name's Andrew Perez, uh and I'm calling from East Tennessee. I'm the co-founder of The Juice Spot and Lone Wolf Granola. Uh, the juice bot's a no nonsense whole food smoothie and juice bar. And from there what we were able to do was uh create Lone Wolf granola. It's our small batch handcrafted granola. That actually started as an ingredient for our sables, but uh it it just quickly took on a life of its own.

30:46 Awesome. Well thanks for calling in, Andrew. So you're in Eastern Tesse, where are you in Tennessee? Um Well I'm uh I'm in the tri state area. It's a pretty nice little interesting area um in the Appalachian area, Cumberland Gap. Cumberland Gap, there's a national park there. Famous gap where Daniel Boone went through Cumberland Gap. You you know at the Gateway to the West.

31:07 And you have you have a very very, very, very small population, but lots of tourists. So so you're tapping into them. Yeah. So tell me how you uh are you from there? Like is that why you opened up this juice bar? No, no, actually uh The story's much deeper than that. I'm originally from Southern California and uh you know, same with my life partner Lisa, who is in on this with me all the way. Um And we grew up around fresh, healthy foods. It was, you know, part of just a lifestyle that shaped both of our families. And uh

31:36 You know, with the shared belief in the fact that you know food's a way of bringing people together. With my degree in biochemistry and uh you know, I have a huge love for fitness. Uh yeah, I think Those things pair very well together. So how did you guys how did you guys end up in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, with a juice bar?

31:53 Well, so I'll tell you the story. My my Alisa, you know, my partner She was feeling a little homesick and I said, Hey, you know what? It it would be a great thing to Take you out and go visit your parents. So I bought us a plane ticket and uh

32:05 Yeah, I wish it would have been virgin, but they don't fly out this way. We'll put that right. But you got your population's got to be more than 150 people in the city. So Long story short, we took a hike and we was in the middle of summer. Um it was really hot. I told my father in law, I said, Hey, uh, smoothies on me. Let's go out and get some smoothies and some fresh pressed juice. And he looked at me and gave me this real funny look and said,

32:30 All we got is about Mick Cafe and that's all you can get over here. You know, just a McDonald's smoothie. And I was baffled because there's a private university about a mile away from where we're located. Um So it it just blew my mind that that wasn't available. So you're thinking there's a and there's a uh tourists come through here and there's nothing like this. There's no juice bar. So clearly It made sense for you guys to do this. Absolutely. I mean I saw

32:54 I saw a problem that needed a solution. Do you you have this juice bar, but you also made granola, which has now become kind of a popular thing, right? You guys are selling a lot of granola. Yeah and and before uh we get into that, tell me what What's your question for us? So Um my my question is

33:12 In today's business landscape What are three tangible pieces of advice that you would give to me? As I continue to bro grow these Two distinct but very complementary brands, each with its own unique demand and uh growth challenges. Well, you you've got you've got a great brand, I think Lone Wolf Granola.

33:32 is a very strong brand. Um I mean, do you want to try to get your juice bars and the granola into other outlets or or or more standalone. Places yourself. Um that's a great question.

33:47 You know, right now what I'm currently doing You know, with the juice spot itself, I'm working along this private university to get in and help fuel their athletes and create a program as they're working to become a D one school. Um and as far as the granola I I I just want to get it out to the masses. I I have a great product and I think that everybody needs to get their hands on it and it should be a staple in a house.

34:10 Uh Andrew, let's let's focus on the granola for a moment here, because I know they got the juice bar, but the granola it sounds like the granola is really you wanna turn this into a CPG brand, right? You wanna turn this into a brand that you could sell beyond Cumberland Gap. Right to in in stores. And and I guess I imagine that you want to figure out how to do that, right? It's not easy to get get your stuff out there and Cumberland Gap is a small place, even though you've got some tourists coming and buying it. Um Have you made any efforts or any attempts so far to reach out to any retailers or

34:40 Grocers to see if they might be interested. Um, I have. I I work I work alongside of a lot of smaller farm to table Brochures. Um Yeah, I've been working with some nutrition shops um just outside of my area in Knoxville, Tennessee, to try to tap into the market there.

34:57 It would be my goal, and um I guess You know, I I would probably need a little bit of guidance to try to figure out how to tap into that market more appropriately. I mean if you could get um one other store apart from your own to be selling it and and You can then use the statistics.

35:15 Of how well they do to then Yeah, and that to then approach other s other stores. Um That obviously would be helpful. I mean it's it's it's great to be able to say, well, you know, if you stock this

35:29 Ex I mean what sort of advertising well, you you obviously don't spend money on advertising because you've only got your one store at the moment. We do spend money on advertising. Um the budget's fairly small, but you know, we use a lot of social media platforms. And we work with micro influencers in the area. To get that product out. I do sample quite a bit.

35:47 That's that's critical what you just said, Andre. You know Look, I think that You've got a lot of things you're interested in doing and focused on. The juice spot and working with the athletes at the local university and the granola. But I do think that you're gonna have to at some point make some hard choices about how uh w how to divide and conquer between you and your your partner maybe one of you focuses on the juice bar and one of you really leans into the granola for for a time period of time because if you're gonna try and turn this into a CPG brand, you've got to start in a city. And you the closest city to I'm looking at the map is Knoxville. And Knoxville is not an unimportant place. I mean I'm I was looking in Knoxville, Mountain Dew was founded in Knoxville

36:26 Ruby Tuesdays was found in Knoxville, Regal Cinemas, White Lily Flower, so there are brands that started there. I think you need to really get into Knoxville to the regional markets. There's food city there, there's uh Ingles, the Fresh Market, Three Rivers Market, go to places like that and you gotta sample the hell out of this. You gotta be there every weekend With cups of this stuff, sampling this so people can Try it.

36:49 I think that's the market you have to start in Knoxville because And then you can get to Nashville, which is you know, once you're in Nashville, you're a national potentially national brand. But I think you have to really make some hard choices right now if you wanna Try and

37:03 Turn this into a real brand. Richard, what do you think? Um So we we have a hotel in Nashville. Um Why don't we why why don't we just stalk a little bit for a while and see you know, see whether our customers like it and and

37:19 I'd be delighted to do that. So Um I'll get somebody to be in touch and we'll get some in that hotel. Wow. Um I mean. Yeah. And then um Is your granola um

37:30 Do you add sugar to it just as a matter of interest? I do add a little bit of sugar. It's a it's a it's a raw organic uh brown cane sugar. Uh and I add a splash to that. There is we do use uh A raw unfiltered Organic honey.

37:44 As well. Um to kind of offset the the sugar. Um, and other than that, I have some pecans in there, some uh some oats. Uh, some sunflower seeds. It might be worth you, um because

37:57 Granola is associated with Yeah, healthiness. You might might be worth your Giving people the choice. of gr you know granola with sugar, granola without sugar, since you know sugar's becoming such a big thing. So that um if you can make it try to make it as tasty without sugar. Um, you know, that will definitely go well in so health shops and so on.

38:18 Maybe agave. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, I used it got in the shop. That's great. I'll I'll I'll work on fine tuning a formula, Sir Richard. Great. Well I look forward to going to Nashville and having a having a breakfast. Thank you so much. Wow. Look at that. Andrew Perez, the juice spot and lone wolf granola. Um thanks for calling and good luck. Congrats on you.

38:38 Cheers. Thank you. Wow. That's so cool. That'd be fun. No, we g look for look really to look forward to tasting it.

38:47 Do you know I make granola because when I go to someone's house, I live in in San Francisco and so, you know, uh what am I gonna bring? I have friends who are wine makers and and and food and I'm not gonna bring'em wine because they make wine. I make granola and then I put it in a jar and I put my wife puts like a nice label on it and it's a really nice gift. Actually people you took the time to make it. Ah, you say you you make it and give it away. It's lovely. I make it and give it away. I've got some in the oven as we speak, Richard, it's at two hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit. You're I'm any time.

39:22 Richard, before we let you go, I want to ask you one final question. When you sort of look back on your time. building virgin. You know, if if you could go back to the To the twenty year old kid starting that that Mail or business. And say, Hey, I'm coming from the future. I've got fifty plus years of advice and experience now. I wanna give you a piece of advice.

39:42 What do you what what do you've said to your former your your younger self? Look, I'm I'm lucky I would not uh change a thing. So even even my mistakes I would not change'cause I think you know as a as an entrepreneur Uh if you don't make mistakes you're not gonna achieve anything. So Um And I just think for other twenty six year olds that that they d they need to

40:04 Look out for situations in life where Um you know, where the where they're frustrated about something, leap in and try to in you know, improve on it. Um and just give it a go. and and um you'll have a lot of fun in the process, a lot of learning in the process and

40:21 Sometimes you'll fall flat in your face and sometimes it it'll succeed. That's founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson. Sir Richard, thank you so much for coming back onto the show. Uh well as always, thanks very much for having us and and uh talk to you. See you soon. Mm. And by the way, if you haven't heard Richard Branson's original How I Built This Episode, you've gotta go back and check it out. It's really, truly one of the best uh out of the 10 years we've been doing this show. You can find a link to it in the podcast description.

40:48 And here is one of my favorite moments from that interview. you know, g I find the bank manager sitting on my doorstep and Stupidly I invited him into the house and And he tells me that he's gonna Close the whole virgin group down on the Monday.

41:03 And um I I don't normally get angry, but I just literally stood up and Pushed him out of my house and told him he wasn't ever welcome there again. Which was not the maybe the best thing to do to your bank manager. Thanks so much for listening to the show this week. Please make sure to check out my newsletter. You can sign up for it for free at gyros.com.

41:24 Each week it's packed with tons of insights from entrepreneurs and my own observations and experiences interviewing some of the greatest entrepreneurs ever. And if you're working on a business and you'd like to be on this show, send us a one minute message that tells us about your business, the issues, or questions you'd like help with. and hopefully we can help you with them. And make sure to tell us how to reach you. You can send us a voice memo at H IBT at ID dot wondery dot com or call us at 1-800-433-35.

41:57 1298 and leave a message there and we'll put all this in the podcast description as well. This episode was produced by Chris Massini with music composed by Ramtin Arabli. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Neil Rouch. Our production team also includes Alex Chung, Casey Herman, Imon Maani, Elaine Coates, JC Howard, Catherine Seifer, Carrie Thompson, Sam Paulson, and Eva Grant. I'm Guy Roz, and you've been listening to the advice line.

42:26 Right here on how I built this lab.

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