Lost keys led to a business idea for a tracking device, a failed crowdfunding campaign, then flirting with bankruptcy after a painful financial loss . This is how, Chris Herbert, raised $1.2 Million on crowdfunding site, IndieGoGo, (after his 1st failed attempt) for his business idea of a small tracking device you attach to your valuables (keys, pets, etc.) that syncs to a mobile app on your smart phone so you can track lost items in the cloud and never lose your valuables again.

How did you come up with this business idea?

Lost keys on the beach as tide was coming in.

What kind of numbers are you doing?

350,000 units shipped

60 new items found per minute

Crowdfunding $1.2 Million in 60-days in Indiegogo

Most Unusual Use of Trackr

People attaching to drone so don't lose it when crashes or runs out of power.

Advice for entrepreneurs?

"Your customer are telling you how to be successful. You just have to listen."

What was your most painful setback?

Being days away from bankruptcy after a marketing campaign flopped.

If you could go back in time - what would you say to yourself to make your life easier?

Collect emails and build a list sooner.

A book that changed your life?

Predictably Irrational

Software Tool?

20:05 "I think Twitter is the most powerful tools in social media for business development because you can talk to anyone." Learn the software too Chris uses to scoop up competitor's customers, get venture capital leads, investor leads, etc...

How did a college student, Kaeya Majmundar, who was told flat out by Barbara Corcoran, "You are not an entrepreneur" raise a $50,000  investment from Lori Greiner on season 5 Shark Tank for  her business idea called BzBox (pronounced "busy box"), a one piece , origami style folding storage box that had zero revenue or sales?

http://thebzbox.com

Check out her latest product and crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter

Patrick Crowley, is on a mission to save the planet by getting people to switch to a more sustainable food source, ground up crickets. Eating crickets are better for you than chicken and beef and the planet.

http://chapul.com/

4:00 How we can save the planet by eating bugs.

20:00 The one radical changed they made to their sales pitch that lead to 400% annual growth.

24:20 What happened to sales after episode airing on Shark Tank

25:40 His practical financial advice for entrepreneurs starting a business. "I have a really low cost of living. That's crucial for entrepreneurs - Learn to be happy without any money. Find the activities that don't cost any money and enjoy those." 

30:45 What he learned about the type of people to hire from one of the pioneering lifestyle entrepreneurs.

BOOK

Let My People Go Surfing -

Biggest takeaway "Trusting and having faith in your customers for making responsible purchases."

Courtney Turich & Christie Barany, former medical device sales people turned their business idea for a better ground mat into dollars and raised $100,000 on Shark Tank season 5.

http://monkeymat.com

SHARK TANK RAISE

$100,000 for 35% with 2 sharks, Mark Cuban & Laurie Greiner

(25:00) How their mindset has shifted toward business since they've started

(27:45) Advice for entrepreneurs who want to launch a business idea : "put ego aside and get candid feed from people - get the straight up truth" , plus more...

A QUOTE that has inspires them? 31:33

"Timing, perseverance and 10 years of trying will make you look like an overnight success " - Twitter founder, Biz Stone

BOOK

- Art of Innovation - Tom Kelly (value of user defined innovation - is there really a problem that's worth solving)

Charlotte Clary & Bevery Vienes-Haines are the founders of Ice Chips Candy started as a sugarlaess, non-gmo healthy candy, Who accepted a deal for $250,000 for 40% of their company on ABC's Shark Tank. They're glad the deal fell through, considering they made over $400,000 in sales after the original Shark Tank airing.

https://www.icechipscandy.com

Their business book "2 Grannies in a Garage"

Where did the business idea come from?

Wanted to make healthy candy treats for their grandchildren.

Where did your first customers come from?

Friends and family asked if they could get more after getting it as a gift.

What has turned out to be the most effective marketing tactic to attract new customers?

Being on Shark Tank. But before that calling health focused stores on the telephone and asking if they could send them samples.

Advice for Entrepreneurs?

Stop standing on the sidelines - just start something. It may not look the same at the end, but you just have to get starte.d

Mixed martial arts fighter, Chad Hamzeh, went from broke fighter, working in a call center to earning thousands of dollars a day in online marketing promoting affiliate products by mastering the art of driving traffic with paid ads, aka media buying.

Chad Hamzeh is the founder of DSV2 Media, an online direct response agency.

He’s also the founder of Traffic BlackBook, which teaches media buying start to finish.

How did you come up with this business idea?

Traffic agency - clients who sell health products - way to leverage wa

What kind of numbers are you doing?

1mill to 1.5 per month ad spend.

$1.3 Mill revenue.

$500K previous
What marketing tactic is working for you right now ?

Talk about a tactic you were convinced would work but flopped?

Best business advice?

What was your most painful setback? (And how did you get through it?)

If you could go back in time - what would you say to yourself to make your life easier?

What's the most common mistake you see entrepreneurs making?

A book that changed your life?

A quote that has inspired you?

Software or website you couldn't live without and why?

Adbeat

Mark Sisson, quit his job as an executive at 47 to start a health and nutrition supplement company, becoming the niche market leader and champion of the paleo diet and lifestyle movement.

- How he supported himself and his family while starting his business

- How he attracts 1.5 milllion readers a month to his blog, Mark's Daily Apple.

- His $1 Million dollar failure and what he learned that helped his company

- Why he wrote the bestselling Primal Blueprint and how it helps market his supplements

- How he reinvented his marketing after the fall of direct response TV

- How he his mindset and approach to business is different today

- The hard truth about the state of online marketing today

http://marksdailyapple.com

http://primalblueprint.com

These self made entrepreneurs descrbie themselves as 2 moms/pals who adore reality TV and abhor exercise. Creators of HYH miracle pants; designed with your behind in mind. As Seen on Shark Tank 4-10-14

The Big Idea

Shapewear for women you don't have to hide under your clothes. "No compression legging or bootcut pant can do for your booty what these body shapers do."

http://holdyourhaunches.com

How are they doing?

Started 2010 doing trunk shows. Have sold over $2 Million to date through retail and their website. Sold $400,000 worth of Hold Your Haunches with 48hours of being on Shark Tank

SHARK TANK

Asked $75k for 20% . Accepted a joint deal between Sharks Lori Greiner and Barbara Corcoran. Post Tank the deal changed, they got more money and gave away less equity in their company but still get promotion and guidance from both Lori and Barbara.

Advice For Entrepreneurs

"Don't take yourself too serious."

"Just start. It's better to get it going than get it right."

Marketing That's Working?

100% social media. Keep in front of audience by posting humor, fashion and girl power for women. Oh...and not taking themselves too seriously. 

Watch the video below to see what happened in the tank!

From NASA engineer to self made entrepreneur revolutionizing bike safety, a $215,000 crowdfunding campaign and a $300,000 deal on Shark Tank

The future of bicycle safety

http://revolights.com

How Rocco Loosbrock (Boss Hog), went from bank executive (who started a wine tasting business because he needed a tax deduction) to selling millions of dollars in bacon with an online business using SEO and content marketing.

Tune into this episode for Rocco's confessions of an accident bacon business baron.

Listen and get a chance to win free bacon!

http://baconfreak.com home of the tastiest, most flavorful, premium quality gourmet bacon.

just took a skill he already had applied to the wedding employeedment

http://www.paparazzi-proposals.com

"Just gotta wing and get going. I think too many people play business too safe."

ADVICE For Entrepreneurs

If could tattoo a saying on your body "Hold Fast"

Ten days after high school self made millionaire entrepreneur, Shawn Nelson, thought it would be funny to make the world's biggest bean bag chair

Today, LoveSac has grown organically into over $50 Million in annual sales, 60 retails stores, double digit online business sales growth with ZERO marketing or advertising.

http://lovesac.com

Hightlights:

- How he came up with his big idea

- How bean bag chairs lead Nelson to innovate an even more successful product, Sactionals.
- His biggest failure / setback and how he overcame the obstacle

- Why LoveSac stopped all marketing to focus on one thing.

- The (surprising) lesson he learned from looking behing the curtain of Richard Branson's business empire - (that will help your business mindset)

- What Richard Branson thinks about "luck" in business

- How LoveSac is "revolutionizing" the furniture industry.

...in the latest Episode of Self Made Entrepreneur

Robin Ribeiro, single mom turns grandmother's home remedy into a crossfit brand that speeds up painful hand rips and tears for crossfit athletes and how she uses social media to build her online business.

http://ripfix.com

- Her social media "hustle" strategy for getting wholesalers to sell RipFix

- The biggest lessons she's learned about using social media to build her brand and business.

- Why her trademark application was rejected and what she did to get the government to change their mind and approve it.

"Because in business, whever tells the best story, wins."

Chris Westfall is the national elevator pitch champion, and the author of The NEW Elevator Pitch and BulletProof Branding.  His strategies have created multi-million dollar revenue streams across a wide array of industries around the globe. With clients on four continents, he has appeared on CNN, ABC-NEWS, NBC-TV, and in The New York Post.  Focused on helping entrepreneurs succeed, he’s coached companies on Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den. Fortune 100 Clients include Cisco, RE/MAX, Unilever, Experian, HP, and businesses of all shapes and sizes.  An award-winning MBA instructor at a top-10 business school, he is widely recognized as an expert on marketing, branding and leadership – with an international executive coaching clientele.  His keynote, Bullet Proof Branding, helps companies to create a story that’s captivating and concise – leading to new revenues, new partnerships, and new investments.

Passionate about helping tomorrow’s leaders, Chris is the publisher of The Millennial CEOby Daniel Newman.

He has spoken at the University of Chicago, Southeastern Panhellenic Association, Kansas State University, The University of Pennsylvania, OSU, Alpha Omicron Pi, Texas A&M and more.

For Press Information and Publicity, click here

HourlyNerd.com is disrupting the traditional consulting industry with it's unique marketplace.

Patrick Petitti, former consultant and business school student turned his disruptive idea for a marketplace for high-end consultants into over $5M in online sales in 1-year and attracting Mark Cuban from Shark Tank as an investor. 

http://hourlynerd.com

- How he and his co-founder came up with the business idea

- How he tested the validity of the idea and got his first customers.

- Why he turned down an offer to appear on Shark Tank

- His most effective marketing tactic

- How he attracted Mark Cuban as an investor

- The first 3 questions Cuban asked before investing

- Why boutique consulting firms are HourlyNerd.com

- Unique advice for consultants who want to increase their clientelle

TOOLS:

Uber.com - because he'd rather work on emails in confort than drive himself to work

TaskRabbit.com - He has a story of it saving his butt for $50

On this week's AfterShark - How a painful business failure gave Moshe Weiss his big business idea for SoundBender, that led to 2 successful crowdfuning campaigns - raising $18,000 and got him invited to the Shark Tank where he did a $50,000 plus deal with Daymond John.

http://thesoundbender.com

- The mistake he made on his first Kickstarter crowdfuning campaign and what he did differently on the next 2 to raise 8,000 and $10,000 in funding for his business idea.

- What's he's doing differently to get the word out - on his next crowdfunding campaign.

Failure

Practical advice for overcoming painful personal setbacks and business failures.

Recommended Books:

- Display of Power - by Daymond John

- The Brand Within - by Daymond John.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/soundbender/soundbender-power-free-magnetic-sound-enhancer-for

Austen Allred, went from homeless and sleeping in the trunk of his car in Silicon and living off $100 a month to raising $700,000 for his revolutionary business idea that could change journalist and how news is reported.

http://grasswire.com

http://twitter.com/grasswirefacts

Books He Recommends

Founders at Work

Hard Things About Hard Times -

Jeremy Chatelaine, former Swiss bank employee turned saas online entrepreneur found his business idea right under his nose. His software as a service startup, Quickmail.io, is a sales tool that makes prospecting for sales via email faster and easier than by doing it manually.

- The brilliant tactic he used to research business ideas

- How he found his business idea (that was right under his nose)

- How he found his first customers

- How markets his software as a service (saas) business

- How he went from employee to $5,000 a month recurring revenue in under 6 months

Untuckit designs men's shirts designed to be untucked.

- How he found the business idea- The unique way he validated the market
- The incredible struggles getting his shirts made- Why Riccobono believes you shouldn't rush growth until you have everything nailed.

- Why his website is converting 6x higher than industry average. (It's not what you'd suspect)- How he's using old school marketing to drive online sales.

"We live in an amazing time because with the Internet, you don't ned expertise, just and idea and you can be in business."

http://untuckit.com

When navigating a start up business, or boosting an existing one, having someone at your side who’s been there and done it is imperative.  The speaking business can be unnerving at times – so many things you “should” be doing.  So many options, which way should you turn?  Jane Atkinson cuts through the B.S. and helps you bee-line straight for success.

http://speakerlauncher.com

http://wealthyspeaker.com

janeatkinson

 $0 to 150 Orders in her 1st hour of business. The Natural Grip is on track to earn $400k/Year.

Also, find out the (shocking) reason why Ashley turned down Shark Daymond John's 6-figure offer?

http://thenaturalgrip.com

Ross Gordon went from being a real-life Mad Men character, working at advertising agency Leo Burnett, to quitting his job to promote products online. Nearly going broke with a new bride to support he found a niche in an "under the radar" 45-billion-dollar market and grew this (crazy) online business to over $300,000 a month in 3-years. 

Also, find out the leadgen software business he sold for over $1-million dollars.

http://mysterytacklebox.com

I interview Jamie Salvatori, founder of Vat19.com, on his Youtube video marketing strategy to get his secrets to making a video so entertaining that it attracts over 100,000,000 viewers,  builds a loyal subscriber list AND sells hundreds of thousands of the most needless, yet strangely compelling products on the face of the Internet, like the World's largest gummy bear.

 http://vat19.com

http://www.internetmarketing.com/vat19-youtube-video-marketing-jamie-salvatori-interview/

http://entrepreneurfitness.com

How Kornel Szrejber turned his hobby into an online business that earns passive income that helped him pay-off his mortgage by 29. His story has been featured in Canadian magazines Money Sense and Money Saver.

www.RockClimbingTips.com

www.BuildWealthCanada.ca

Fav Resource

http://Mint.com < easier than making and sticking to a boring budget.

http://peerbackers.com

Preserving the seahorse for mankind to enjoy forever.

http://seahorsehawaii.com

http://entrepreneuronfire.com

 Donna is inspired to continue assisting other authors in getting published.

"Donna was at the market staring at cat food, devastated that she could not afford food for her beloved cats. In that moment she decide the meow effect would propel her to MASSIVE ACTION!"

Donna is an award-winning author who shows Entrepreneurs how to get a book done to use as, what she calls, a big business card. She does this through her virtual Write a Book in a Weekend events. Yes, Donna shows you how to get your book done in two days!

www.mybigbusinesscard.com

http://emailoctopus.com

Get a grip, hold your ipdad securely.

http://getnhand.com

https://www.fundable.com/get-n-hand

http://www.killerstartups.com/startup-spotlight/nhand/http://nhand.com

Marketslide sells white label SEO services to webdesign and hosting companies.

http://marketslide.io

Heart attack survivor  Daryl Hatton's FundRazr.com social platform has raised $58M in crowdfunding for social causes, artists and business ideas even families

He shareds:- What's important about th 1st 24hours

- Why you need to cue 20-30%

- The staggering amount of money is being raised through mobile and Stripe payments.

https://fundrazr.com/

James Smith found a furniture idea on social media and started building furniture to sell online without any experience in woodworking.

Learn how he went from a guy in a garage to $2.5 Million in sales with 20 employees in 3-years.

www.CarpenterJames.com

Get 10% when you enter coupon "bax"

Josh Pigford is the founder of Baremetrics, an analytic platform for Stripe less than 2-years ago. He needed analysis software for his own businesses and when he couldn’t find anything which wasn’t extremely complex he decided to build his own. With a bit of help from Twitter, he got his first customer on the first day, and has since bootstrapped to see almost instant success.

http://baremetrics.io

Why he stopped previous 2

$0 to $22k a month in 13 months

How to know when to quit a project or business?

Stripe

Why Josh prefers selling software to B to-B versus B-to-C market? 

How you can look at all his numbers and see how you're doing.

Why he doesn't believe in offering free trials

Why he is fully transparent about ALL his numbers and how it helps grow his business?
 

The downside of being fully transparent and how it hurts his business.

"Money is the only indicator of money"

Magic numbers

- < 1-3% monthly customer churn

Josh Pigford, the founder of Baremetrics, a Stripe analytic platform has seen his business success explode. When he couldn’t find a simple Stripe analysis software, Josh decided to build his own, and one tweet later, he already had his first customer.

In This Interview You’ll Learn:

• 01.48 – Josh’s background in business and software
• 06.04 – How Josh had the idea for Baremetrics and how he grew it
• 11.10 – How Josh decided on his pricing
• 19.17 – Why Josh went public with his numbers and the effect that this had
• 22.22 – The biggest obstacles that entrepreneurs have
• 25.00 – Josh’s advice for people at or near the beginning of the business career

Show Notes

• Book – The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles – Steve Pressfield
• Twitter – @shpigford

Buying a mattress can be a pain in the butt? Casper's big idea is to invent "one maticulously design mattress for the masses and sell it direct to consumers in a box that can fit in the trunk of a car. And they are causing a lot of sleepless nights for the old, established mattress industry.

And they even ship to Canada!

 www.casper.com

Use coupon code "bax" tog $50 dollars off your purchase

If you like cars and you like business ideas you'll love Wrench Patrol. How two MBA students turned their thesis project into an entrepreneurial reality and a thriving business. 

www.wrenchpatrol.com

The creators of a new Kickstarter campaign claim to have developed an umbrella that pushes air against the rain to protect its owner from getting wet, and they've blown way past their $10,000 funding goal. They call it the Air umbrella

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1243275397/air-umbrella

https://www.facebook.com/wang.chuan.779

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/20/air-umbrella_n_5985388.html

Stephen Key shares his strategy for turning your ideas into a passive income goldmine. Tim Ferris calls Stephen Key "Yoda of renting business ideas for passive income". For the last 30 years, Stephen has designed his lifestyle by "renting" his product ideas to companies and leveraging their existing sales.   He has successfully licensed more than 30 simple ideas that have generated billions of dollars of revenue. 

Jun Loayza shares how he lowers startup risk by pre-selling business ideas and grow a customer list before he launches. He also discusses failure and how to use it to your advantage. 

www.junloayza.com 

http://twitter.com/junloayza

Australian Entrepreneur, Allan Sharpe, offers the bumbiest tour in Australia when he converted a Army Land Rover 6x6 into a bad ass tour bus that gets a lot of attention and business.

I really enjoyed the unique advice and Aussie slang in this interview.

www.tourofdutybright.com.ca

https://facebook.com/tourofdutybrightvictoria

Learn how Miguel Hernandez went from a business failure to starting Grumo Media and attracting 40 high-profile clients (including Actor Ashton Kutcher) begging for him to produce their product demo videos in 2-weeks…with zero marketing budget.

How Jun Loayza, raised $75,000 seed capital for his start-up from investors he attracted on his blog.

http://www.junloayza.com

Kyle Oberndorf says crossfit entrepreneurs didn't believe he could help them build their businesses...so he started his own and blew them away when he more than broke even on month one and grew to 150 members in 6 months.

http://crossfitnewwest.ca

Find out why DoorBot was an accidental success, why inventor and entrepreneur, Jamie Siminoff, turned down Shark Tank for a $700,000 investment, how he pre-sold $1 Million worth of DoorBot's without manufacturing a single one or having a working prototype, and now sells over $5 Million.

He also discusses:

- How to know when to kill your business idea

- Advice for entreprepreneus who want to raise money for their business ideas through crowdfunding

- How Doorbot appearred on Jay Leno's last episode of the Tonight Show, and what happened to sales.

- What a good business investment should look like.

The Dragon's mocked graphic designer's business idea, an unusual looking sleep aid,  but something crazy happened backstage - He sold out his Nite Hood to CBC staff and Kevin O'Leary's assisant.

Learn how former financial advisor Eric Bandholz started a blog about his epic beard and how his startup went from a zero revenue blog to over $100,000 in sales of an unusual product line, in less than 12-months.

Ever thought, "Why didn't I think of that?") Actor turned entrepreneur Jason Bax uncovers surprising business ideas that make (big) money and interviews the startup entrepreneurs about the successes and failures of turning their ideas into dollars, how they found the idea, got the courage to make the jump to entrepreneurship, beat the odds and turn their dreams into dollars. 

Listen during your daily commute, workday or workout. 

And let their success inspire your next big business idea.