037: The Strategy to Outsell Your Competition ft. Lucas Robinson
Lucas Robinson is a great example of how far you can go with enough endurance, passion, and perseverance. His entrepreneurial spirit was first discovered in 1997, when he opened his first shaved ice cart at the age of 16. The week after graduating high school, Lucas spoke with the store manager of a local Lowe’s and offered to sell shaved ice out front. Then one year later, he went to Walmart's headquarters and offered the same deal. By 2004, Lucas decided to expand his location and traveled to Puerto Rico, only to learn within an hour of arriving that street vendors were selling shaved ice for $3.75 less. By 2005, Lucas came up with a concept for selling mailboxes door to door, which only took one day to plan. He would begin to print out mailboxes from Lowe’s online catalogue and offer businesses to sell and install them. The first day, a customer said yes and netted him a $100 profit on a $200 sale, which ultimately led to him continuing his mailbox business. He and his wife worked day and night due to the non-stop work, sometimes not even leaving their condo for weeks at a time. As a result of the financial collapse, in 2008, the mailbox business was slowing down. Watch now and learn how Lucas and his wife were able to pivot out of the mailbox industry and reach high levels of success.