Delivering the keynote address at #IRCE Chicago, CEO of Gruntstyle.com, charmed the audience and shared his secret to success! Gruntstyle.com is clocking more than USD 200 Million in revenue annually. Dan shared his story of starting the business after he left the armed forces where he served as Drill Sergeant.
He started his clothing business with a theme based on patriotism and armed forces in 2010. Started with USD 1200 selling at flea markets, farmer’s market, slept on the road and sold the merchandise everywhere for 2.5 years.
His first breakthrough came by participating in the Trade Show in LA where he sold USD 6200 worth of cloths. More importantly, he learned an essential lesson of bringing discipline. Dan talks about a simple method to be hugely successful. He coined three simple words, “Discipline by Cadence.” He said that it is essential to plan but more important to stick on that plan.
Discipline to plan and execute brings the difference between failure and success. With a new found mantra, within the first five months, the sales grew to 64000 USD. He gave examples of how it is critical to hire people with clear result expectations. He hired the first two people with simple goals:
- Get 500 Facebook likes and ten new email address
- All orders to be shipped every day
He created a 1:5 rule in marketing. Each $1 invested in marketing needed to turn $5. He ensured that they created a discipline that they only stick to only those things which are inside of 1:5 rules. He cautioned the entrepreneurs that it is easy to get drunk in their success but difficult to stick to the discipline.
Dan further requested the attendees to stop waiting for the perfect plan and get going and execute with cadence!
