What We Learned When No One Wanted What We Loved (and how that saved us money!)

A/B testing online for customer preferences was a tried and true strategy for Joe as he built websites and digital marketing campaigns in the automotive space, but how could he apply those lessons for CPG retail in the "real world?" He shares a wake-up moment as a founder about confidence, bias, and the importance of testing ideas before scaling. From launching a canned water experiment that looked clever on paper—but creeped people out in real life—to uncovering what customers actually want, this conversation is packed with lessons for entrepreneurs who think their “gut” is enough.

5 Key Takeaways:

• Your confidence doesn’t equal customer preference: Watch, listen and learn from your customers especially in early stages of product development.

• How to test in the real world to prevent expensive mistakes: simple DIY experiments can yield valuable insights.

• If you're inside the bottle, you can't read the label: Good branding is important but being overly clever can backfire when customers don’t “get it.”

• Data beats opinions: whether from surveys, ads, or in-person experiments you don't need a lot of data to make better decisions and you've got no excuse for not collecting data.

• Tips to avoid paralysis by analysis: meet your customers where they are, test only what matters, and keep going.

Tips to Approach Diet & Fitness: Test, Track & Take Action Now

Joe gets candid about his journey from neglecting fitness while grinding to grow his business to losing 45 pounds, running marathons, and sustaining healthier habits to be a better business leader, father, and husband. The connection between entrepreneurship and personal health is often overlooked so we break down the myths of “perfect routines,” why waiting until “next week” never works, and how small changes with realistic expectations can transform both your health and your business. Plus Joe shares his own shortcomings to help others assess what’s right for their own lifestyles.

Key Take-Aways:

• Start Now, Not “Next Week:” Putting off health until “Monday” or “after the holiday” is just a delay tactic. If you don’t tolerate delays in your business, why would you delay making changes to improve your health?
• Better Health = Better Leadership: Prioritizing fitness and diet leads to greater energy, mental clarity, and confidence, directly impacting performance as an entrepreneur.
• Sleep Is the Foundation: Without adequate rest, exercise and nutrition won’t deliver results—protect your sleep first.
• In Your Diet, Track Weeks, Not Days: Weight loss and body transformation are 90% diet; tracking calories and protein intake is a game-changer, but you have to track results over weeks, not days.

Accountability Creates Momentum: Challenges, races, or workout partners provide the structure and motivation to stick with new habits.

Rule of Thirds for Startups: Big Wins, Paper Cuts & When to Call a Spiritual Healer

In an Ask-Me-Anything episode Joe shares intimate stories from behind the scenes of starting and running his businesses including the surreal moment of getting a $200+ Million offer and when the only solution was to call a spiritual healer to cleanse the business.

Key Take-Aways For Entrepreneurs:

• Measuring growth in thirds to find the right balance
• Why you should keep banging on the doors of opportunity
• How to handle wins that validate risk and losses that can't be corrected
• How losing key employees can be a time to reset operational needs
• Having an optimistic attitude to protect against unpredictable setbacks

Hijacking Super Bowl Commercials. Brand vs. Performance Marketing. Social Proofs Ads vs. Demographic Targeting.

Feeling stuck on how to start marketing on Facebook, Instagram or Google? Joe cuts through the noise to share a simple and proven, early-stage business strategy. Learn how to build buzz, drive sales, and make every dollar work harder—without falling into the common traps that drain budgets. From hijacking big brand moments to letting the algorithm find your perfect customer, this episode gives you the blueprint to build your online business.

Key Takeaways:

- Brand + Performance Marketing: Master the two-part formula for awareness and sales.

- PR is your secret weapon—and your ad content goldmine.

- Ride the wave of competitor campaigns and cultural moments (Go Brewing landing pages vs. Heineken Zero Super Bowl commercials).

- Feed the algorithm with creative variety, not guesses at demographic targeting.

- What metrics to measure so your ads pay for themselves.

Joe shares expert advice based on his experience building and selling two companies that were at the forefront of digital marketing, as well as real-world examples building a non-alcoholic beverage company that sells online.

Build Email Flows that Unlock Value, Drive Sales & Create Relationships

The most undervalued resource of your business is your ability to contact customers directly so why would you spend money to drive people to your website or store if you can't stay in touch with them? In this episode Joe explains why you shouldn't spend money on ads until you build a system to earn customers' contact information and then send emails (or text messages) that will:

• turn visitors into customers
• create long-lasting customer relationships
• uncover customer insight that will help improve your product or service
• reduce your advertising costs
• develop social proof to validate your business

Joe shares a behind-the-curtain look at the automated email flows that he developed for Go Brewing and Easy Man, but these practical tips can apply to any business even ones that are not in e-commerce.

In this episode, Joe explains what many startups fail to do before they spend their first dollar on ads. From crafting a clear value proposition to optimizing your website for the buyer's journey, you'll learn how to build a brand experience that converts. Using real examples—like the launch of Easy Man, a hemp-derived THC beverage—we explore the importance of testing, simple UX, lead capture, and focusing on one customer persona. Whether you're a first-time founder or scaling an e-commerce brand, this episode reveals the foundation you must build before launching any campaign. Get the infrastructure right—then go grow.

In this episode, we dismantle the myth that market research requires big budgets or third-party consultants. Instead, Joe breaks down a founder-tested approach to validating ideas using nothing more than a spreadsheet, common sense, and hard-earned insight.

We walk through:

• Why you don’t need fancy market research to validate your idea—just your brain and Google.

• How to use pricing data and margin math to identify viable product opportunities.

• The crucial decision between co-manufacturing vs. in-house production and its long-term implications.

• Why subscriptions can be a game-changer, and how Go Brewing built its recurring revenue from day one.

• The overlooked cost of customer acquisition and why owning your data (email, SMS) trumps retail or Amazon-only models.

• How products like Jolie and Liquid Death disrupted legacy categories by reframing formats and lifestyle positioning.

• The reality of building something ahead of its time—including the lonely early days of Go Brewing’s non-alcoholic taproom.

• A candid take on why great product > great marketing—you can’t market your way out of mediocrity.

The takeaway? You don’t need permission or perfection to start—you need proof. And you can get that by doing the work yourself before hiring or scaling.

You've got the idea. You've done the research. So why are you still waiting? Multi-exit founder breaks down the psychology that keeps most people stuck in the "someday" phase - and the exact questions he asks himself before taking the leap. From validating passion over market size to why your first-year budget is probably wrong, this episode tackles the gap between wanting to start and actually starting. Plus: the brutal reality of letting go early employees, why fighting business problems makes them worse, and how to know when you're ready to risk it all.