July 6, 2020 • 41 mins
FYI!!! Carla Marie is no longer the host of a morning show in Seattle but she is still supporting small businesses in every way possible. She’s even started her own small business with her radio cohost and best friend, Anthony. All of the links below will help you stay up to date!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Side Hustlers podcast. I'm your host from
my Heart Radio, Carla Murray. The whole point of Side
Hustlers is to hear the stories of people who follow
a passion outside of their day job, or people who
have turned their passion into their full time job. And
We've heard from all kinds of people, and I'm excited
for you to hear from this week's guest because they
are crazy in the best way possible. My day job
(00:22):
is actually hosting the Carla, Maurie and Anthony Show weekday
mornings on one or six point one Kiss FM in Seattle,
but you can listen to us from anywhere near I
Heart Radio app or wherever you listen to podcasts if
you don't want to listen live on the I Heart
Radio app. So this week's guest, Paul and Chris are
kind of different than a lot of guests because, as
they describe to me, they don't really have side hustles.
(00:45):
They just have a lot of hustles. But they fit
into the category of this podcast because they're unbelievably passionate
about what they do and they are constantly coming up
with ideas. But in this week's episode, with them. We
are focusing on their latest idea, paw Tool. Now. Paw
Tool is a brass device that helps you open doors
(01:07):
or it has a stylist where you can use touch
screens and sign your names at the store. Basically, it
protects you from everything you have to touch and it's
got all different little nooks and crannies for you to
be able to touch things and open things without using
your hands. And in this world that we live in
right now where we want to stay safe and healthy,
it's amazing that they've created this for us to use.
(01:27):
But how did they get there? And what are the
other things that they do? And why do they work together?
And how they work together I think is some of
the coolest advice you're going to get. Ever. So this
is just a little bit of Paul and Chris's story
for a lot of people. You know, why are you? When?
Do you know what you want to do? And this
is something you want to do? Do it. I'm a
(01:48):
hustle side side hustle do it. I'm a hustle hut
do it. I'm a hustless Come on ask about me, yo, yo,
it's the side podcast. Well root well, this will be
an interesting episode. So Paul and Chris are here. Now,
you guys are in different Where are you, Paul, where
(02:08):
are you right now? I am currently sitting in the
conference room at our office, socially distance from everybody in Brooklyn? Okay? Chris?
What about you? Currently at home? Where at home? Brooklyn? Okay? Cool?
So recently I've had someone who just moved from Brooklyn
to may Own on the podcast. That was Erica, So
this is cool. I actually listened to her podcast. That's
really interesting. Yeah, Eric, it's fun. I feel like when
(02:29):
I'm talking to people on the East Coast. I talk
to you guys and like, oh, it's like when you
walk into your mom's house and she's cooking your favorite
food that you you know, that smell. When I hear
the accents, I'm like, oh, it's like home. So I'm
happy to have you guys here and your accents as well.
So this is going to be an interesting podcast to
tackle because you two have so many different things that
you're involved in, so many different businesses. You're I think
(02:52):
masterminds when it comes to the art of creating businesses.
I don't know if anyone's ever told you that before,
but that's what I think so you're more is recent
thing that you've created is the pot tool, which is
ppe for people to have to be able to open
doors and do all the things without getting their hands
Jeremy and Gross. Now, first of all, I'm gonna have
you guys actually explain the real portool instead of me
(03:16):
butchering what pot tool is. So what exactly is pot too?
I think you summed up pretty well. I think you
understand now living in the environment that we're in there,
there are certain things in the environment that you just
don't want to interact with. We want to live normal lives,
but we want to have some type of control over
what we're actually touching and not touching. You know. Poort
tools developed basically give us some control over avoiding the
(03:37):
things that trigger us uncomfortably. You know, I'll say, at
least in my experience, I get my hands dirty pretty
frequently with things I do for other work. Right, so
my big trigger is probably pharmacy key pads. You'll never
see me comfortably walk into a pharmacy full of sick
people and saying like I definitely want to touch that
pen to sign my name, Like it's just I can't.
It's one of those things that even for a person
(03:59):
who doesn't really I'm not a germophobe per se, you
know that one is a personal trigger, at least for
me recently, when I've gone to pharmacy or anywhere where
they're signing, they'll say to me, is it okay if
I signed for you? And I'm like, yeah, I don't care.
I don't want to touch it. I don't care what
the hell you do what you signed for. I don't
want to touch it. So with paw tool, I think
it's amazing that you guys have created this piece of
(04:19):
metal that can protect you from the door knobs or
toilet seats whatever. Maybe, but you've also added that little
touch thing. What exactly is that called? That is the
stylus nib taking a component that you can use to
interact with actually functional touch screens, so your iPhone, your iPad,
stuff like that, the airport Kiosk. Yeah, anything that will
(04:40):
take a touch input will actually work really well with
the stylus. It's great if I walk into a certain
situation where like a public restroom, I don't really want
to be touching the bathroom the knobs and this and that.
You know, you don't want to get your shoes on
the side of the toilet bowl seat, that kin and stuff.
So it's nice to have some control over what you're touching.
But you know, I think Chris can elaborate also, is
that there's always something that every person just doesn't like
(05:01):
the lack of control they had in that environment. So
you can be when we get back to some normalcy
like a music festival, do you really want to touch
the porta party did. Actually, you'll never want to touch that.
It's just a matter of giving you control over the
things in your environment that make you uncomfortable. COVID kind
of also gave us a really unique look at it.
You know, I think Paul now that neither of us
(05:22):
are germophobes. We never felt like this is something that
I would have incorporated in my life prior to this moment. However,
you know, when you start to become aware of all
the habits you have which you are encountering other things,
and I think anyone who has a has a kid
in school understands that as soon as your kid goes
to school, you will get sick. When COVID happened, you know,
(05:43):
we looked at our life in New York City became
very aware when you start touching that metro card machine,
like how many New York has touched that? And you
can like just see the gunk on that machine. So gross,
it's absolutely disgusting. So in a lot of ways, we
actually developed it from working backwards from those sort of interactions.
The tool it's off is it's metal, it's it's heavy
like it's legit, and it's small. It fits in my hand,
(06:04):
it's smaller than my hand. For people that I'm explaining
it to. By the way, there's a link below you
can click that. In the descriptions, you can actually see
what we're talking about. You go to paw tool dot
com obviously to follow along. But it's got little holes
in it that looked like a paw, like an animal. Pause.
I'm assuming that's where the name came from. Back to
the accent thing, I secretly think that Chris just named
(06:26):
it poor Tools so he can have me pick up
the phone and say, Hi, this is Paul from port Tools,
which no one ever gets. So I've got to sit
there and be like you no, no, like like the
sat that dude sat Paul. I'm done right, I know,
it's just I can't help myself. But that is like
secretly why the same tool is so that I can
never answer the phone and anyone ever understand what I'm
(06:47):
talking about. But the r L was also available, so
it kind of worked out really well. You know. Something
that was really kind of nice about the design for
us was when you kind of look at other products
in a market space, you think about, how can someone
recognize this right off the bat without having to have,
you know, to read a branding or look at a logo.
It's so easily separated from anything else you see. You know,
it was it was kind of a fun design, and
(07:09):
you know, we we tried to use kind of the
inherent shapes to add more usefulness to how the product works.
So when you talk about usefulness, it's like I said
earlier could be used for a lot of things. Got
a hook on the end where like you can lift
up a toilet seed or I know, you guys have
this awesome video that's been produced where I can use
it as a hook to open the mailbox, to drop
(07:30):
mail in there, all different things. So when you came
up with those shapes, what was that like, Like, how
many times did you have to do the prototype to
figure out what fits and how does that work? So,
I mean, you know, we have our machine job, so
we have access to this equipment. Essentially, we started with
a sketch and it was an aesthetically driven sketch. You know,
we were both dog owners, were like, you know what
(07:51):
we the pause an extension like it kind of made
sense wherehere we're going, and we like the way it
looked initially. And then I made one out of wood.
Actually I took a quick gift for Chris, and I'm like, um,
I do this is awesome. It works so well. And
what ended up happening was the curves from the paw
design actually made easy to just manipulate other things in
the environment, like you know, stuff that would normally get caught,
(08:11):
you were able to like flip it over or use
one of the side pieces. It was really interesting. And
then we ran home and you know, we're you know,
sitting there like, okay, where do we do now? So
Brooks sketch up and basically took some market and was like,
now this sucks. Fix this. We need a bottle opener.
Gott to drink some beer, so like throw a bottle open,
and even even that coincidentally turned to something else. So
(08:31):
we initially started as a bottle opener, and then we
realized that the bottle opening hook is actually unbelievably good
at manipulating really small things, so it just became another
part of the design. And it didn't start out that way.
It started out as just, you know, we want to
be at the beach drinking a beer and it's like
in your pocket. Who doesn't want a goo bottle opener?
And then but really it turned into being something that's
actually really functional for part of the design. As for
(08:54):
the material choice, the reason why we designed it in
breasts was, you know, the main component of brasss copper,
which is naturally antimicrobial, so the material, you know, tools
effectively self sanitizing, and that was the core reason why
we made it out of breast. In terms of cost,
I would much rather have made this thing out of
a cheap material. It's just it doesn't it wouldn't function
the way it's supposed to function. But it's nice. It's
(09:15):
almost like I've when I got mine, it was in
a box. It was a very cool box, but I
also feel like it should have been delivered like in
a jewelry box, like it should have been a nice
velvet like opened up like a very moment, like it's nice,
like it's it's for what you're using it for. In
this sense of like protecting you against germs, it's pretty
like you wouldn't expect to have something pretty to protect
(09:37):
you from that. So I think in that world of
it is definitely eye catching to the consumer. So yeah,
I'm sure you would have preferred something much cheaper, but
it looks great. I mean, I think it's self branded itself.
I mean, you know, you look at your like it's
the one that looks like a pole, and you're like, okay,
that's the that's the one, right. And then the top
of that, there is everything that we've done. We've done
is totally functional. There's stuff you guys aren't seeing on
the website because we haven't put it out there, but
(09:58):
we have in our heads and ecosyst some of things
that work off of this design, the wheels of turning,
and we're just trying to figure out. We're trying to
learn who our audience really is and to make sure
that we tail or something towards them as well as possible.
I mean, I am seven just watching interaction rates on
the site and trying to see like, well, they didn't
like the font on that page. So here's a funny
dynamic with Chris and I. I can't design anything, by
(10:20):
the way, in terms of like the aesthetic not my thing.
I make things work, Chris makes things pretty. So I'll
sit there and be like yeo, I mean I spent
five hours within the analytics. I don't like this page.
We need to go and do something differently. Let me
make me another version, abe it. I'm not going to
interact with your design aesthetic. You know, he's the artist.
Let him work on the look and feel. But like,
(10:41):
I need something different. I think this is the answer,
and then we'll try it. It'll fail, miserablie, we gotta
do it again, you know. So we've kind of applied
the same idea to everything we've done, and we want
to just make something that's really good. That's another thing too,
I don't ever want to be associated with the product
that isn't the best I could have done. You know,
it's not I didn't set out to be like, well,
we could have saved a few bucks here, and they
(11:01):
were like, no, we're gonna try and make as best
as possible, and then we'll try and reverse engineer to
make it as feasible as possible to scale up. Chris
is design aesthetic work. You know, I think the site beautiful.
I may be slightly biased, but the work on the
site is incredible, you know, and we've done everything so
soup the nuts. You know, there's no one's hands but
ours in there. Yeah. I love that, And I think
(11:22):
some of the best business owners and people have been
on this podcast are people who say, you know, like
I'm in control of everything, and that's how I We
also look at our morning show. Granted, Anthony and I
have I always say a big back or a big
investor in I heart radio, but I look at our
morning show as our small business and we've got our
hands in everything, all of it to the colors of
(11:42):
the logo and the same thing you're saying, like I
didn't like that font, Like I think you're crazy. But
also at the same time, I do that same stuff,
and I catch myself overthinking. But sometimes you have to
overthink when you're selling products, are trying to reach consumers.
There's a fine line. I don't know where it is,
but I think overthinking is a good thing when it
comes to owning a business. I think part of the
(12:03):
most important thing in all of this is the balance
with the person that you're doing this journey with. So
I think having a great partner is effectively the most
important part of the entire business. You know, the dnemic
the Chris and I have, we've gone, like I told
you earlier, we've known each other longer than we haven't.
It's an incredible bond that we have. We've done silly
stuff together forever, and we've taken it to the point where, yeah,
(12:24):
we separated, we have our adult lives, but we still
have this unity between us, and we can work together
on projects and this this trust that we have with
each other. Like this plenty of times where I'll come
up with an idea and it's outlandish and it's just horrible,
but I'll get like emotionally attached to it really quickly
and I got to see this, this is incredible, and
He's like terrible, man, Okay, so he can. You can
(12:46):
do that to each other though, and then then like
I'll come off the high and I'm like, yeah, he's right,
it was really stupid. Let's try another one. So like
Initially early on when we were doing this years and
years ago, when we started really just working on projects together,
we had built a like fake Twitter count and we
just called I think that at dumb Idea something I
don't know. It was just like and the logo was
a chia pet and we're like, okay, the chia Pet's
(13:08):
pretty dumb. And someone made billions of the chiep. It's insane. Yeah, yeah,
the chia pet and the slinky, Like those guys are
just you know, idols. But that doesn't like everyone. Everyone
loves the slinky. But so we had this like Twitter
account and we had our own like personal tour account,
so we would tweet the Idea account and just put
them ideas in the bucket. Now people couldn't see this account.
(13:31):
This was basically this was like a Google drive before
people were using Google drives. It didn't have to be
a text message which we get lost. It was just
somewhere like permanent for Paul and I to assess, you know,
to be able to look back on all your ideas
and kind of see how they all come together. Does
it still exist? Maybe? I don't know, because it's like
I feel like it's a time capsule for your geniusness.
(13:51):
I would probably be scared to look at it right now.
You know, one of the first things we've worked on,
which man I was a total failure. But you know,
my godson has some disabilities and I watched him at
dinner with the family smack his head into the table
while we're eating, and I was like, this is awful.
There's gotta be like a net or something that we
can build and like, so Chris and I literally built
mold and we made a silicon and tray and we
like pro typing this and you know, we end up
(14:13):
like abandoning it because we felt that it's a market
that we don't have the financial means to really kind
of penetrate. But it was damn good and we just
didn't have the right tool set to kind of make
that happen. You know, I couldn't imagine fighting with lawyers
on a you know, a kid product. I can't do that.
How many years ago was that, I don't know, it's
I can't imagine. So you guys do all of that
(14:34):
stuff on your own. Chris, you can build websites or
you can do the aesthetic part of it. And Paul,
same thing. With you when you're looking at the analytics.
Do you guys ever outsourced for any of your ideas?
I don't think so. I love having a network of
people I can rely on for just some information. I
think the network that you have is the most valuable
thing in your life. You know, we just have a
(14:54):
really broad base of friends. I can reach out to X,
Y Z guy and be like, hey man, what do
you think of do in this and get some really
good feedback, and it's it's all really valuable. So that's
been a big part of how we're able to kind
of make these decisions. But we do have backgrounds computer science.
So you both have other jobs than this thing that
you have together. Like, I don't even really know what
(15:15):
to describe what you have together is because it's not
one company. You've got a lot of things. So you
have these I don't even want to call them day
jobs because it's just every you guys just do a lot.
It's not like you're spending eight hours a day doing
one thing. Ever, you you do these other jobs. How
do you find time to come together, the two of
you and work on this stuff that you do have together?
(15:37):
We have similar sleep schedules, probably that's probably the best part.
I have two young children which consume quite a bit
of post daytime, so you know, I really can spend
a lot of time when they're bad, you know, like
my kids go to sleep at eight, and I have
from eight till two in the morning time hash out ideas.
I also indicate for the record, you know, so yeah,
(15:58):
I mean you also, but I can't do your job.
I cannot be up at four o'clock in the morning
to go to the radio show. I'm sorry, not my things,
I recommend, No, I can't do it. It's not my things. Fallen,
fallen asleep. And a few two in the mornings where
he literally blacks out in front of the leam and
I'm like, Paul, get up, Paul, and he's so he's trying,
(16:21):
and he's I'm like, no, man, we're done. We're done here.
He's like, I will go six in the morning facing
the laptop pro key in my face, like this is
what we do. The advantage of having our own machine shop.
I mean, you know, Crystal come up with a design
for something or a modification, and I'm like, gone out
the door, I'm going to the shop. I'll cut it
real quick, and that's just how we operate. You know,
(16:44):
there's never a time when, like I'm not working at
some level. You both are always working. Do you like
that or you ever need time to turn off the brain?
I love it personally, say yeah, I love it. I
think satisfied when I'm occupied and when I'm thinking about
something new. If I know, the second I gets stagnant,
I start hunting for the next project. I think that
(17:04):
you two are very unique in the way that you
guys function. But I think that is a New York
and New Jersey mindset only no offense to anyone from
anywhere else in the world, because I've talked to people
from all over, but it is very specific to that area.
I think a big part in a place where everyone
is ready for the next new thing and can easily
move on from whatever it is that's happening right now.
(17:26):
It's very un European in that sort of way. There
is no tradition, if that makes sense. I think. I
think Chris and I have a pretty similar upbringing, and
I totally attest everything I do to how I was raised.
I come from to immigrant parents. You know, my dad's
in immigrant from Italy. Mom's immigrant for Spain. I look
at someone like my father, who, you know, I could
(17:47):
never be brave enough to literally pick up and just
go somewhere else, Like I just it's not me. I
can't do it. It's terrifying. And this dude did it
at a time when you know, it's just such a
different time and you know, we're so growing up. My
father is the hardest working person I know. I've never
seen someone work as hard. He taught himself things in
an environment where there wasn't a YouTube channel. You know,
(18:08):
Like it's the concept of a guy who can you know,
who's not formally educated really well, you know, like just
to literally pick up and have this intrinsic business business
sense and understand that the immense work ethic will yield results.
You know, God blessed the dude. But like he found
time to like bring me to baseball and you know,
or let's go do this, and he found the time.
(18:30):
And you know, it's a big reason the way I operate,
and I will say I can never work as hard
as you can, not even close. So that's a big
part of how Chris and I operate. And we have
similar upbringings and like that culture it must be like
a New Yorker thing, like everything has to be immediate.
You've got to do it. And this idea that you
can you can better yourself by just putting your head
down and working. You know, that's really the key here
(18:51):
is that you can get anything you want to have
just put your head down. Try. We think potool is awesome.
And the thing is I've said to everyone has spoken
to about it that if Paul Too fails, it's not
because the execution was bad. It's because we just made
a mistake somewhere, or we we miss misjudged the environment,
or we misjudged the customer. Are people stop caring about
getting sick and don't give a maybe maybe? But we
(19:13):
like the execution was right, you know, Like I've taken
the approach of you know, customer services paramount. I think
understanding your customers and giving them the ability to reach
out to you seven is huge. So like you know,
Paul Tool is a good example. On that website alone,
there is a full customer service ticketing back in. No
one is going to have a hard time getting ahold
(19:34):
of us or one of our employees. Like you're gonna
get someone if you have a question silly or whatever
it may be, or serious, you're gonna be able to
reach me. There is literally a full eight hundred number
that one of our one of our employees is a
voiceover actress. So I was like, all right, get on that.
You're gonna record all the voice prompts. And this is worse.
I mean, the customer understands that there's a sense of trust,
(19:55):
you know, you know that, like if you can see
that we've put effort into this, this is not a
fly by. I think we're gonna be here. If you
went to the pot tool website right now and you
didn't listen to this podcast, you would have no idea
that this company, like you would think you guys have
been around for ten years. Like the way you're running
this this specific company, I know you guys are doing
things forever together, and I think obviously that bleeds into this,
(20:16):
like you know how to run a company. When you
google pot toool, the Google ad comes up at the top,
and you're like, Okay, these guys mean business because they're
putting money behind they That's how I think of a company.
It's like, all right, if they're paying Google for ads
to be at the top, then they truly believe in
what they're doing, and it's that they want me to
see this first and let me click on it. And
then you go to the website and it is it's beautiful,
(20:37):
and there's right there there's a video on how to
use this product, what it is. You've got all the pictures,
and I literally looked at it and I was like,
I know this is a newer product, but I'm looking
at this and I'm like, I would think people all
over the world have been using this and I'm the
one on the outside touching things with my hands instead
of using this. So you have done this amazing job
(20:58):
at creating this phone mode, I think for the consumer.
And it's obviously because you do have a great product.
You're not trying to like trick anybody. It really is
a great product and it is very useful. But I
want to commend you guys for that because when I
go to the website, I'm like, oh, yeah, I got it.
I want this. I trust them. You know when you
said that, it feels like a you know, brand or
a product that's been around for ten years. Paul and
(21:19):
I have hit the point where our stride is because
it is ten years in the making. I mean there's
a whole ecosystem of things that go with paltol. I
mean palt tool is not you know, a flash of
the pan thing like We've got endless amounts of stuff
and I'll give you like another like polism. I don't
take notes or anything down, so like they're all just
jumbled in my head. I have no not like that.
Here's the hell out of me. I disappointments every song.
(21:40):
Chris is shaking his head. I feel like this is
a very sensitive subject for you guys. Oh it is.
It absolutely is, because he knows, like you know, I'll
call it like two in the morning, like I lost something, man,
Like we've lost all the passports in the sight. It's
on everything, you know, like I sent this to you
five times, you know. So there's there's literally like no
no keeping. I don't keep an agenda, my calendar. I'm
(22:02):
just like I'll get there, like, oh it's a little
a little haphazardous of my life is kind of how
it goes. But you know, you brought up a really
interesting point about the pomo of the of the product.
Nothing is not thought about in terms of the experience,
Like what we're trying to lead you down. And one
really important thing with the bolt tool especially is that
we know that everybody can do a small thing, and
(22:22):
a lot of small things add up to a really
big thing. You know. It's it's a small concept of
me doing something to help somebody else, and the bolt
tool is the same thing. I mean, like you not
interacting with something in the public space and not spreading
Germans potentially to it, or not bringing on to you
protects my mom, my dad. You know. It's it's that
part of it that was really a key stone when
(22:44):
we started. We want to do our part, you know,
and we think we can do something that might be
small in a tangible sense, but it's huge. Well, earlier
you said something about you had an idea and then
you went back to it. Years later, you bought the machine,
the engraving machine, didn't do anything with it, and it
was important that you didn't get frustrated that you didn't
do anything with that machine or that idea, because later
(23:06):
you did. And I think that's so important for people
because a lot of times they come up with this
great idea for a side hustle, for whatever it may be,
and if it doesn't work out in the first ten days,
it's a failure and they move on. And that is
something huge to take away for anyone listening to this
podcast that you never know what that idea will do
down the line, and don't get frustrated or out at
(23:27):
yourself in that moment for it not working right away.
It's a tool set you're building. You're building a tool set,
and the tool set will help you cope with life too.
It's not just you know, a product pot idea. It's
you're you're dealing with coping skills, coping with the stress
of doing something you know. I think it's the biggest
part in all this is being able to manage your
feelings throughout the process. I mean, it's very easy when
(23:48):
you're building something up and you get very emotionally attached
to it and then you hit like a little speed
bump and you're like, I can't do it anymore, or
you see someone else's product you're like, oh man, they
beat me. To know they didn't just keep doing what
you're doing. If your idea was right and your execution
was spot on, it will work or shelf it. And
which is not a big thing too, is to understand
(24:08):
the ability to stop with something. You know, there's a
balance here, like you can't be perpetually trying to you know,
it's the beat the dead horse thing, like you know
you can't it doesn't work anymore, So give it up
and then really really get your resources to something else.
I think we've had a good track record of measuring
if something is right for us. I think that was
really important. You start to think, um, you know, is
(24:31):
this a market I understand? Or you know, why do
something that you really don't understand you need? I think
sometimes people it's it's kind of like that concept that
if you really had money, you should be investing in
real estate. If you don't know real estate, though, it's
probably not putting your time. Maybe it's something else that
you do understand, you know, maybe you really understand art,
or maybe you understand and so on and so forth.
(24:52):
So I think that we've that, you know, that's a
big part of us vetting um kind of the things
we get into. You know, for us, it was like, well,
how much storage space do you have? Maybe even something
like that determined like how we kind of came to
pot tool. You want to think about a product that
fits in a certain envelope that's in a certain size,
that you can store in a certain warehouse that you know,
and and all of these sort of little conditions that
(25:14):
we put ourselves through to think about, like if this
is a good idea for us to take on. You
guys both told me that social media is your weakness.
You obviously have a ton of strong points, ideas analytics,
the aesthetic, everything, like, you've got all these skills, but
that is apparently the one thing you guys say you're
both bad at. So how do you survive in this
(25:34):
world of where everything is social media? It's it's a
real challenge, I think, at least coming from me. Like
on a personal level, I don't really utilize personal social media,
you know, for the most part, I try and maintain
a relatively private life. I mean in terms of you know,
I'm the most open person in the world amongst my
inner st art of course, you know. So it's not
a matter of being private for the sense of being product.
(25:57):
It's just like I just never found all in doing
the social media thing. And I then Chris kind of
feels the same way. So if I had to say,
that's definitely the biggest challenge because I don't intrinsically do
it in my life. We get by I mean, and
it's an essential part of the business. But you know,
like I mentioned earlier to you, like people don't realize
how difficult managing a social media aspect of the business is.
(26:18):
You know, it's this whole thing onto itself. And I've
listened to some of your other podcasts and there's some
amazing people on there who were just awesome at the
social media part. They've got downpacked it really incredible. But
to me, it's definitely been one of the points where
like I will definitely take a lot of advice from
people in that space and say like, well, how do
you pull this off? How did you do? The followers
like what do you do? And typically the answers work,
(26:40):
you know, that's usually the that's usually the hard part
is that you just need to put time in and
everyone wants a quick isn't Yeah, there just isn't there.
So while our strong points are definitely execution from a
product standpoint, delivery standpoint, you know, all those things that
make it function. Definitely, if I had to learn more,
it would be sitting there and you know, just looking
at someone who's excellent at social media. You know, sit
(27:02):
there and like watching influencer and like, how did you
pull this off? Where did you get this contract from?
Like and then kind of see what they do. I mean,
some people just really gifted and talented. But I think
as a as a company, it's crazy how how much
weight we as a consumer put into someone's social media brand.
Now think about social media wasn't around to this except
(27:22):
like ten years ago, less than ten years ago. And
now it's like, well, their Instagram doesn't look like they're legit,
and it's like, why are we putting so much weight
into this? But we are. So there's a pressure as
a company. You may have the best idea in the
whole world, but you have to then make sure your
Instagram is great, and then your Facebook for the different
consumer you want, and then are you on Twitter? Are
you on TikTok? Like it's just it's too much. At
(27:44):
some point, it's just impossible. It's never gonna happen. But
you know, Carla Marie's brand is exactly like I would
look up to you and say, I don't know how
she pulls this off, but it's excellent. I mean, the
amount of content you put up. I don't know how
you do it, you know, Like you know, we're talking
about being workaholics, but like you know, it's no different
(28:05):
than what you do. I mean, you're up at four
o'clock in the morning, probably a three thirty, just to
get into the office to start recording. And then now
we're speaking to you after you just record the show,
and now you're probably gonna leave us and go to
social media like you're seven. You know, it's the same thing.
And you know, I think this addiction we have to
our our smart devices. I mean, you'd see a d
M slide in a twelve o'clock at night, You're like,
(28:25):
I gotta get that. It's probably something, you know, I
think the I think the hard Parker probably be just
getting all this feedback, like the troll feedback. It's gonna
be really tough. That's it has been on fire lately,
let me tell you. But like I'm at a point
now where it's I laugh at it, you know. And
and the difference between me and like a company, like
a product. So if someone's trolling me, they are literally
(28:48):
trolling me as a human, not a product. So it's
that's a whole another podcast where you talk about and
I think that I have been very lucky and that
I grew up with thick skin. I grew up on
the East Coast, and there have been comments that have
put me into a spiral. But also I know that
that person has something way off in their brain that
they're attacking me, someone who has done literally nothing wrong,
(29:11):
and it's just you just have to let him roll off,
just roll just okay, goodbye, or you just put them
on blast on social media and let everyone else who's
good attack them, which is good and bad sometimes, but
it happens. So we got connected, Paul, I don't even
know what year it was, but do you have any idea? Yeah,
I mean more than five years ago, seven maybe so.
(29:35):
And it kind of goes back to you talking about
your tool set or reaching out to different people. You
guys have a personalization business, and that's when we got connected.
Back then, when I was on Elvis right in the
morning show doing what's trending, you had reached out. When
Anthony and I moved out here to Seattle. You made
us um Carl Mae Anthony show luggage tags at the time,
and it's just you've kind of been a part of
(29:56):
different points of my journey, the Elvis journey, the you know,
the show learning out now with my son Ustler's podcast journey.
But that first time when you reached out, what was like,
what made you say, I'm going to email this person
and to see if I can work with her on anything,
Because the worst that can happen is you ignore us,
like there's no there's no it's only winning, right, there's
there's no harm in reaching out to someone. So listen.
(30:19):
The advantage of you being on seven hundred is that
I think that first time we did it, we literally
sent one of our employees over with like boxes of chocolate.
Were like, here we go, We're gonna just like bombard
the office with stuff. You did, right, Yeah, we we did,
like our favorite chocolate spots. We sent over some stuff.
Let's just send over, you know, to everybody, a bunch
of stuff. And what's the worst that happens? You don't
(30:40):
like it, that's the worst. I mean, Like, we didn't
take that shot, we'd never hit it, you know. So
it panned out clearly, so you know, and we've been
listening to that show forever. So when we finally got
recognition from you guys. This is great, But the secret
I think the Elvis Rancho was just sending food food,
I mean food for anyone really. But having that connection
is cool no matter what it is. It doesn't have
to be a connection between someone who happens to be
(31:02):
on the radio. It's any connection you can make with anyone.
I always try to preach that in this podcast, that
connections are key and networking is important. And we often
think of networking the way we were taught in college,
which was like handing your business card to someone. No,
that has evolved so much and you're talking about, you know,
all the people you can reach out to in your
circle just to ask them a question. It's just that
(31:23):
kind of thing is important, whether it's in your industry
or out of your industry. The connection with humans is
more important than anything. And I think right now we're
all kind of learning that. But that is something that
I think is so key, and I'm glad you mentioned that.
How reaching out to someone, what have you got to lose?
Literally nothing, it's only winning on that stuff. I mean,
(31:44):
that's that's just how we've always gone about things. It's
a big part of it. So I think, you know,
any shot you don't take, you'll never hit. There are
special kind of people that can be side hustlers and
do what they do and launch their own business. I'm
in awe episode after episode, and then I meet people
like you guys, who are just it just doesn't end.
You are serial entrepreneurs in a way where like that
(32:06):
is your life. Like you're just gonna keep doing it NonStop.
You're gonna come up with the next idea, and it's
incredibly inspiring and it's kind of like addicting to see
people do that, and you want to see what's next
for them, and you want to be a part of
their journey. And I hope everyone else feels that about
you guys, but they don't even know. Like we just
scratched the surface with you guys. You've got a million
things and we'll do other podcasts down the line with that.
(32:27):
But between the two of you, you know, you've known
each other since high school, You've done a million things together.
But really, what do you think the number is on
the amount of ideas that you guys have had together? Idea,
no idea, the ones that never've got. I've got some
bad ones. I mean, like you know, three o'clock here.
(32:49):
At one point, I was like, we should turn avocado
pits into a resent to make plastic, to make recyclable,
Like there's one of those. Yeah, but we can figure
it out so away like a whole million dollar thing,
you know. But like and stuff like that, it's all
over the place. And it's funny too, because like, you know,
I've got two young kids and I watched them and
I'm like, huh, I got like, this guy would be
(33:11):
something for the kids that we can make. But that's
part of the hardest thing and honestly the hardest thing
and everything that we do, I mean, definitely at least
for my So I'm taking time away my kids is
really problematic, you know. So the balancing app of being
dead and being the same guy who also puts food
the table, that's you know. You know, I told Chris
at one point, if my son is six years old
(33:31):
in a day, I only have the six year old
in a day once, you know, like I lost a
moment in time because I was off doing something else
that I do think long term will be beneficial for everybody.
But could I have just scrapped all of it and
just spent more time with like what's worth more, I
don't know, And it's just trying to balance the whole thing.
That is absolutely the hardest challenge, And the whole thing
is being as good as my dad want was to
(33:53):
balancing it like me trying to have anything. It's impossible.
It's impossible. You know. Someone told me something once that
was really moving. But like I guess the cliches that
kids goes to fortune, right, that's the whole And this
guy told me, he's like kids are inexpensive, that we
make it seem expensive by thinking they want to go
to Disney World fifty times, and they just want your time,
and your time is the most valuable thing you have.
(34:15):
So and it doesn't physically cost any dollars, you know,
Like that's all they need is just more of you.
So understanding that and realizing that, like I've got to
find enough time where like I need to be with
my son and my daughter from this time till this time. Um,
they need me as a dad, my wife needs me,
you know, everyone needs me. But in the same token,
(34:36):
when they shut down to go to bed, I've got
to go back into work mode, uh and do my
part to make sure that we keep going forward and
that you know, the next generation will just do better
than I did. So I think Chris Fiel is the
same way. I mean, like it's the hardest. The hardest
thing is just the time. I don't know how. I
have two cats, and I'm like, this is insane. I
I don't know, they're not cats. Cats are harder fun.
(35:00):
It's exhausting though, it's draining, and it's one of the
things I did want to ask you guys about was
time management. Because you are involved in so many different
things and companies and brands and ideas. It's just do
you actually set aside time for your different things. Paul's
actually probably one of the most talented people at Focus UM,
and Paul's working. He is completely focused on working. It's actually,
(35:22):
I'm not that way. I can't. I'm looking. I'm like,
I'm actually amazed. That's really tough. So you know, when
I when I see Paul, if he if he's starting
to work on something, he'll he'll put three hours of
undivided attention into it. Like I that's not the way
I function, you know, I think actually that's that's that
really helps, especially with what he's talking about, because he's
(35:43):
able to say this is the time I'm going to
dedicate to this. Nothing is going to get in my way,
and then as soon as he's done, he steps away. Yeah,
I mean, yes, it was a perfect example. Um, we're
finally my son's baseball team finally got back on the
field and ironically got canceled. So some parent must have
not wanted to go the cancel the whole. So we
got together with a few of our close friends and
we there are social distancing and you know, we've had
(36:04):
kids kind of throw around a little bit and do
some activity outside. But like I think we finished up
at like eight thirty and I'm like, all right, guys,
off the shop and then just pick up when over there.
Came back home at I don't know, ten eleven o'clock,
called Chris to kind of touch on a few things,
and then you know, I just woke up and did again.
I mean, you know I've always said I dwell repeat like, yeah,
you know, I completely dwell on chaos. That's my If
(36:26):
I don't have chaos around me, I can't function. So
you'll never see me, you know, move into a rural,
quiet area won't happen. I need the constant new York
City chaos, and it's got to be running two four
seven at a hundred and ten miles an hour, you know,
lots of coffee. Have you ever been on vacation? It's
kind of yes, I try. I think this year was
actually canceled. But good old coronavirus you said earlier, you know,
(36:49):
the little things to do something big. Pottle helps possibly
save a single life by just doing something small but
not spreading germs and using this product. Is there something
that you want to do in that world, like environment
or whatever it is you want to be able to
create a product that will blank. I'm just trying to
figure out how your brains work, and I don't know
(37:11):
how I will ever do that. It's like I couldn't
even give an answer because we don't know ourselves. But
what we do know is that port tool is just
another building block onto something bigger and better. And it's honestly,
it's it's very easy to embrace products and ideas what
you have that um clearly aligned with the positive result,
something that can actually help somebody. So we we always
usually tend to fall back on those type of ideas.
(37:31):
I mean, yeah, we don't do things that we don't
feel are actually right to do. That's another big part
of it. We don't just go for a money grab
on something that it doesn't fit the profile things we
want to do. So you'll never see us do some
fly by night thing which is just you know, it
doesn't fit our personal lives and how we actually interact
with life in general. I mean, even stuff with the
po tool, we did the best we could to make
(37:53):
it as environmentally friendly as possible. I mean, like we
tried our best. Like the little plastic bag that holds
the stylus is some by the gray old plastics. Tell anyone,
we just did it, and I love that, you know,
It's just it's just we had to do it right.
So we tried as much as we could to kind
of cut down unpacking materials. So while we're not the
best at it, you know, we're learning, and I want
people to give us feedback, and we're trying, you know,
(38:14):
and I think we can do better every time, right,
So we at least set out with the fact that
we're trying to do good and if we make a mistake,
check me on it, let me know and I will
correct it. Like I didn't know, you know, like, we
need that feedback. So I think that's a big part
going forward. Is there another idea, grand idea? I'm full
of random ideas. I don't know. I mean, there's definitely
something not written down anywhere. We'll never find them. We're
(38:36):
not written anywhere. They're just like appear, and you know,
and Chris has got a bunch of his own that
we have to keep bouncing off back and forth and
it'll work. We'll get we'll make it happen. We're just
trying every day just good bye and do a little
better in this world, and a small owle piece, you know,
and listening to other podcasts that you put out and
just listen to the inspirational people. Everyone's got such great
ideas that you can just listen to them. You're like, wow,
(38:57):
I like, I don't know how you got there, but
it's an amazing journey. Yeah, at the end of it,
I got a cool story. That's probably the best thing
about this whole thing. First a great friend in it.
So yeah, that's great. Well, thank you guys. I appreciate
you for taking the time out of your insane schedules.
And I know that the time difference and I know Paul,
You've got kids to get to and and all the things.
So thank you for being here and being on this podcast.
(39:19):
I hope everyone can hear the two of you and
be like, all right, you know what I can do this.
I've got ideas and then you've inspired them. I'm a
hundred percent positive that that has happened. So thank you
having d M me at one o'clock in the morning,
and I will respond. So I'm looking forward, But can
you give me the Paul from Paul Tool, but with
your accent. I'm even trying the accent. I did not
(39:46):
practice it. I can't say I can't even say my
name correctly. Okay, Paul is not sound right like I've
heard other people say, well, and it's not the way
I say it. So someone did me wrong on this. Uh.
And then Chris totally he totally named it Paul Tool.
So I would have to answer the phone that way
and completely butcher it, you know, and have to describe
it like that's an animal thing, the foot, you know,
like I got. But the most challenge d M. Yeah,
(40:14):
Paul from Paw Tool. That's how we're ending this. Thank you. Okay,
that was a lot and that wasn't even a fraction
of what these guys do. They have so many different
things that they're a part of, so many different other jobs.
Because it's not day jobs for them, they do a
billion things. I'm not even kidding you. We had a
(40:34):
call before this podcast, and I don't normally do that
with guests. I kind of just jump right into the podcast,
but we had a call ahead of time because I
didn't want to miss out on any of their story
and they have so much that we decided to focus
on paw Tool p A W t O L. So
check out pot Tool. You can get yourself one hit
the link below. Thank you so much for being here.
(40:55):
You can always email me Side Hustlers Podcasts at gmail
dot com with any ideas that you may have. This
podcast has been produced by Houston Tillie. Thank you for
being here, Stay safe, keep hustling, and be a good
human
Welcome to the Side Hustlers podcast. I'm your host from
my Heart Radio, Carla Murray. The whole point of Side
Hustlers is to hear the stories of people who follow
a passion outside of their day job, or people who
have turned their passion into their full time job. And
We've heard from all kinds of people, and I'm excited
for you to hear from this week's guest because they
are crazy in the best way possible. My day job
(00:22):
is actually hosting the Carla, Maurie and Anthony Show weekday
mornings on one or six point one Kiss FM in Seattle,
but you can listen to us from anywhere near I
Heart Radio app or wherever you listen to podcasts if
you don't want to listen live on the I Heart
Radio app. So this week's guest, Paul and Chris are
kind of different than a lot of guests because, as
they describe to me, they don't really have side hustles.
(00:45):
They just have a lot of hustles. But they fit
into the category of this podcast because they're unbelievably passionate
about what they do and they are constantly coming up
with ideas. But in this week's episode, with them. We
are focusing on their latest idea, paw Tool. Now. Paw
Tool is a brass device that helps you open doors
(01:07):
or it has a stylist where you can use touch
screens and sign your names at the store. Basically, it
protects you from everything you have to touch and it's
got all different little nooks and crannies for you to
be able to touch things and open things without using
your hands. And in this world that we live in
right now where we want to stay safe and healthy,
it's amazing that they've created this for us to use.
(01:27):
But how did they get there? And what are the
other things that they do? And why do they work together?
And how they work together I think is some of
the coolest advice you're going to get. Ever. So this
is just a little bit of Paul and Chris's story
for a lot of people. You know, why are you? When?
Do you know what you want to do? And this
is something you want to do? Do it. I'm a
(01:48):
hustle side side hustle do it. I'm a hustle hut
do it. I'm a hustless Come on ask about me, yo, yo,
it's the side podcast. Well root well, this will be
an interesting episode. So Paul and Chris are here. Now,
you guys are in different Where are you, Paul, where
(02:08):
are you right now? I am currently sitting in the
conference room at our office, socially distance from everybody in Brooklyn? Okay? Chris?
What about you? Currently at home? Where at home? Brooklyn? Okay? Cool?
So recently I've had someone who just moved from Brooklyn
to may Own on the podcast. That was Erica, So
this is cool. I actually listened to her podcast. That's
really interesting. Yeah, Eric, it's fun. I feel like when
(02:29):
I'm talking to people on the East Coast. I talk
to you guys and like, oh, it's like when you
walk into your mom's house and she's cooking your favorite
food that you you know, that smell. When I hear
the accents, I'm like, oh, it's like home. So I'm
happy to have you guys here and your accents as well.
So this is going to be an interesting podcast to
tackle because you two have so many different things that
you're involved in, so many different businesses. You're I think
(02:52):
masterminds when it comes to the art of creating businesses.
I don't know if anyone's ever told you that before,
but that's what I think so you're more is recent
thing that you've created is the pot tool, which is
ppe for people to have to be able to open
doors and do all the things without getting their hands
Jeremy and Gross. Now, first of all, I'm gonna have
you guys actually explain the real portool instead of me
(03:16):
butchering what pot tool is. So what exactly is pot too?
I think you summed up pretty well. I think you
understand now living in the environment that we're in there,
there are certain things in the environment that you just
don't want to interact with. We want to live normal lives,
but we want to have some type of control over
what we're actually touching and not touching. You know. Poort
tools developed basically give us some control over avoiding the
(03:37):
things that trigger us uncomfortably. You know, I'll say, at
least in my experience, I get my hands dirty pretty
frequently with things I do for other work. Right, so
my big trigger is probably pharmacy key pads. You'll never
see me comfortably walk into a pharmacy full of sick
people and saying like I definitely want to touch that
pen to sign my name, Like it's just I can't.
It's one of those things that even for a person
(03:59):
who doesn't really I'm not a germophobe per se, you
know that one is a personal trigger, at least for
me recently, when I've gone to pharmacy or anywhere where
they're signing, they'll say to me, is it okay if
I signed for you? And I'm like, yeah, I don't care.
I don't want to touch it. I don't care what
the hell you do what you signed for. I don't
want to touch it. So with paw tool, I think
it's amazing that you guys have created this piece of
(04:19):
metal that can protect you from the door knobs or
toilet seats whatever. Maybe, but you've also added that little
touch thing. What exactly is that called? That is the
stylus nib taking a component that you can use to
interact with actually functional touch screens, so your iPhone, your iPad,
stuff like that, the airport Kiosk. Yeah, anything that will
(04:40):
take a touch input will actually work really well with
the stylus. It's great if I walk into a certain
situation where like a public restroom, I don't really want
to be touching the bathroom the knobs and this and that.
You know, you don't want to get your shoes on
the side of the toilet bowl seat, that kin and stuff.
So it's nice to have some control over what you're touching.
But you know, I think Chris can elaborate also, is
that there's always something that every person just doesn't like
(05:01):
the lack of control they had in that environment. So
you can be when we get back to some normalcy
like a music festival, do you really want to touch
the porta party did. Actually, you'll never want to touch that.
It's just a matter of giving you control over the
things in your environment that make you uncomfortable. COVID kind
of also gave us a really unique look at it.
You know, I think Paul now that neither of us
(05:22):
are germophobes. We never felt like this is something that
I would have incorporated in my life prior to this moment. However,
you know, when you start to become aware of all
the habits you have which you are encountering other things,
and I think anyone who has a has a kid
in school understands that as soon as your kid goes
to school, you will get sick. When COVID happened, you know,
(05:43):
we looked at our life in New York City became
very aware when you start touching that metro card machine,
like how many New York has touched that? And you
can like just see the gunk on that machine. So gross,
it's absolutely disgusting. So in a lot of ways, we
actually developed it from working backwards from those sort of interactions.
The tool it's off is it's metal, it's it's heavy
like it's legit, and it's small. It fits in my hand,
(06:04):
it's smaller than my hand. For people that I'm explaining
it to. By the way, there's a link below you
can click that. In the descriptions, you can actually see
what we're talking about. You go to paw tool dot
com obviously to follow along. But it's got little holes
in it that looked like a paw, like an animal. Pause.
I'm assuming that's where the name came from. Back to
the accent thing, I secretly think that Chris just named
(06:26):
it poor Tools so he can have me pick up
the phone and say, Hi, this is Paul from port Tools,
which no one ever gets. So I've got to sit
there and be like you no, no, like like the
sat that dude sat Paul. I'm done right, I know,
it's just I can't help myself. But that is like
secretly why the same tool is so that I can
never answer the phone and anyone ever understand what I'm
(06:47):
talking about. But the r L was also available, so
it kind of worked out really well. You know. Something
that was really kind of nice about the design for
us was when you kind of look at other products
in a market space, you think about, how can someone
recognize this right off the bat without having to have,
you know, to read a branding or look at a logo.
It's so easily separated from anything else you see. You know,
it was it was kind of a fun design, and
(07:09):
you know, we we tried to use kind of the
inherent shapes to add more usefulness to how the product works.
So when you talk about usefulness, it's like I said
earlier could be used for a lot of things. Got
a hook on the end where like you can lift
up a toilet seed or I know, you guys have
this awesome video that's been produced where I can use
it as a hook to open the mailbox, to drop
(07:30):
mail in there, all different things. So when you came
up with those shapes, what was that like, Like, how
many times did you have to do the prototype to
figure out what fits and how does that work? So,
I mean, you know, we have our machine job, so
we have access to this equipment. Essentially, we started with
a sketch and it was an aesthetically driven sketch. You know,
we were both dog owners, were like, you know what
(07:51):
we the pause an extension like it kind of made
sense wherehere we're going, and we like the way it
looked initially. And then I made one out of wood.
Actually I took a quick gift for Chris, and I'm like, um,
I do this is awesome. It works so well. And
what ended up happening was the curves from the paw
design actually made easy to just manipulate other things in
the environment, like you know, stuff that would normally get caught,
(08:11):
you were able to like flip it over or use
one of the side pieces. It was really interesting. And
then we ran home and you know, we're you know,
sitting there like, okay, where do we do now? So
Brooks sketch up and basically took some market and was like,
now this sucks. Fix this. We need a bottle opener.
Gott to drink some beer, so like throw a bottle open,
and even even that coincidentally turned to something else. So
(08:31):
we initially started as a bottle opener, and then we
realized that the bottle opening hook is actually unbelievably good
at manipulating really small things, so it just became another
part of the design. And it didn't start out that way.
It started out as just, you know, we want to
be at the beach drinking a beer and it's like
in your pocket. Who doesn't want a goo bottle opener?
And then but really it turned into being something that's
actually really functional for part of the design. As for
(08:54):
the material choice, the reason why we designed it in
breasts was, you know, the main component of brasss copper,
which is naturally antimicrobial, so the material, you know, tools
effectively self sanitizing, and that was the core reason why
we made it out of breast. In terms of cost,
I would much rather have made this thing out of
a cheap material. It's just it doesn't it wouldn't function
the way it's supposed to function. But it's nice. It's
(09:15):
almost like I've when I got mine, it was in
a box. It was a very cool box, but I
also feel like it should have been delivered like in
a jewelry box, like it should have been a nice
velvet like opened up like a very moment, like it's nice,
like it's it's for what you're using it for. In
this sense of like protecting you against germs, it's pretty
like you wouldn't expect to have something pretty to protect
(09:37):
you from that. So I think in that world of
it is definitely eye catching to the consumer. So yeah,
I'm sure you would have preferred something much cheaper, but
it looks great. I mean, I think it's self branded itself.
I mean, you know, you look at your like it's
the one that looks like a pole, and you're like, okay,
that's the that's the one, right. And then the top
of that, there is everything that we've done. We've done
is totally functional. There's stuff you guys aren't seeing on
the website because we haven't put it out there, but
(09:58):
we have in our heads and ecosyst some of things
that work off of this design, the wheels of turning,
and we're just trying to figure out. We're trying to
learn who our audience really is and to make sure
that we tail or something towards them as well as possible.
I mean, I am seven just watching interaction rates on
the site and trying to see like, well, they didn't
like the font on that page. So here's a funny
dynamic with Chris and I. I can't design anything, by
(10:20):
the way, in terms of like the aesthetic not my thing.
I make things work, Chris makes things pretty. So I'll
sit there and be like yeo, I mean I spent
five hours within the analytics. I don't like this page.
We need to go and do something differently. Let me
make me another version, abe it. I'm not going to
interact with your design aesthetic. You know, he's the artist.
Let him work on the look and feel. But like,
(10:41):
I need something different. I think this is the answer,
and then we'll try it. It'll fail, miserablie, we gotta
do it again, you know. So we've kind of applied
the same idea to everything we've done, and we want
to just make something that's really good. That's another thing too,
I don't ever want to be associated with the product
that isn't the best I could have done. You know,
it's not I didn't set out to be like, well,
we could have saved a few bucks here, and they
(11:01):
were like, no, we're gonna try and make as best
as possible, and then we'll try and reverse engineer to
make it as feasible as possible to scale up. Chris
is design aesthetic work. You know, I think the site beautiful.
I may be slightly biased, but the work on the
site is incredible, you know, and we've done everything so
soup the nuts. You know, there's no one's hands but
ours in there. Yeah. I love that, And I think
(11:22):
some of the best business owners and people have been
on this podcast are people who say, you know, like
I'm in control of everything, and that's how I We
also look at our morning show. Granted, Anthony and I
have I always say a big back or a big
investor in I heart radio, but I look at our
morning show as our small business and we've got our
hands in everything, all of it to the colors of
(11:42):
the logo and the same thing you're saying, like I
didn't like that font, Like I think you're crazy. But
also at the same time, I do that same stuff,
and I catch myself overthinking. But sometimes you have to
overthink when you're selling products, are trying to reach consumers.
There's a fine line. I don't know where it is,
but I think overthinking is a good thing when it
comes to owning a business. I think part of the
(12:03):
most important thing in all of this is the balance
with the person that you're doing this journey with. So
I think having a great partner is effectively the most
important part of the entire business. You know, the dnemic
the Chris and I have, we've gone, like I told
you earlier, we've known each other longer than we haven't.
It's an incredible bond that we have. We've done silly
stuff together forever, and we've taken it to the point where, yeah,
(12:24):
we separated, we have our adult lives, but we still
have this unity between us, and we can work together
on projects and this this trust that we have with
each other. Like this plenty of times where I'll come
up with an idea and it's outlandish and it's just horrible,
but I'll get like emotionally attached to it really quickly
and I got to see this, this is incredible, and
He's like terrible, man, Okay, so he can. You can
(12:46):
do that to each other though, and then then like
I'll come off the high and I'm like, yeah, he's right,
it was really stupid. Let's try another one. So like
Initially early on when we were doing this years and
years ago, when we started really just working on projects together,
we had built a like fake Twitter count and we
just called I think that at dumb Idea something I
don't know. It was just like and the logo was
a chia pet and we're like, okay, the chia Pet's
(13:08):
pretty dumb. And someone made billions of the chiep. It's insane. Yeah, yeah,
the chia pet and the slinky, Like those guys are
just you know, idols. But that doesn't like everyone. Everyone
loves the slinky. But so we had this like Twitter
account and we had our own like personal tour account,
so we would tweet the Idea account and just put
them ideas in the bucket. Now people couldn't see this account.
(13:31):
This was basically this was like a Google drive before
people were using Google drives. It didn't have to be
a text message which we get lost. It was just
somewhere like permanent for Paul and I to assess, you know,
to be able to look back on all your ideas
and kind of see how they all come together. Does
it still exist? Maybe? I don't know, because it's like
I feel like it's a time capsule for your geniusness.
(13:51):
I would probably be scared to look at it right now.
You know, one of the first things we've worked on,
which man I was a total failure. But you know,
my godson has some disabilities and I watched him at
dinner with the family smack his head into the table
while we're eating, and I was like, this is awful.
There's gotta be like a net or something that we
can build and like, so Chris and I literally built
mold and we made a silicon and tray and we
like pro typing this and you know, we end up
(14:13):
like abandoning it because we felt that it's a market
that we don't have the financial means to really kind
of penetrate. But it was damn good and we just
didn't have the right tool set to kind of make
that happen. You know, I couldn't imagine fighting with lawyers
on a you know, a kid product. I can't do that.
How many years ago was that, I don't know, it's
I can't imagine. So you guys do all of that
(14:34):
stuff on your own. Chris, you can build websites or
you can do the aesthetic part of it. And Paul,
same thing. With you when you're looking at the analytics.
Do you guys ever outsourced for any of your ideas?
I don't think so. I love having a network of
people I can rely on for just some information. I
think the network that you have is the most valuable
thing in your life. You know, we just have a
(14:54):
really broad base of friends. I can reach out to X,
Y Z guy and be like, hey man, what do
you think of do in this and get some really
good feedback, and it's it's all really valuable. So that's
been a big part of how we're able to kind
of make these decisions. But we do have backgrounds computer science.
So you both have other jobs than this thing that
you have together. Like, I don't even really know what
(15:15):
to describe what you have together is because it's not
one company. You've got a lot of things. So you
have these I don't even want to call them day
jobs because it's just every you guys just do a lot.
It's not like you're spending eight hours a day doing
one thing. Ever, you you do these other jobs. How
do you find time to come together, the two of
you and work on this stuff that you do have together?
(15:37):
We have similar sleep schedules, probably that's probably the best part.
I have two young children which consume quite a bit
of post daytime, so you know, I really can spend
a lot of time when they're bad, you know, like
my kids go to sleep at eight, and I have
from eight till two in the morning time hash out ideas.
I also indicate for the record, you know, so yeah,
(15:58):
I mean you also, but I can't do your job.
I cannot be up at four o'clock in the morning
to go to the radio show. I'm sorry, not my things,
I recommend, No, I can't do it. It's not my things. Fallen,
fallen asleep. And a few two in the mornings where
he literally blacks out in front of the leam and
I'm like, Paul, get up, Paul, and he's so he's trying,
(16:21):
and he's I'm like, no, man, we're done. We're done here.
He's like, I will go six in the morning facing
the laptop pro key in my face, like this is
what we do. The advantage of having our own machine shop.
I mean, you know, Crystal come up with a design
for something or a modification, and I'm like, gone out
the door, I'm going to the shop. I'll cut it
real quick, and that's just how we operate. You know,
(16:44):
there's never a time when, like I'm not working at
some level. You both are always working. Do you like
that or you ever need time to turn off the brain?
I love it personally, say yeah, I love it. I
think satisfied when I'm occupied and when I'm thinking about
something new. If I know, the second I gets stagnant,
I start hunting for the next project. I think that
(17:04):
you two are very unique in the way that you
guys function. But I think that is a New York
and New Jersey mindset only no offense to anyone from
anywhere else in the world, because I've talked to people
from all over, but it is very specific to that area.
I think a big part in a place where everyone
is ready for the next new thing and can easily
move on from whatever it is that's happening right now.
(17:26):
It's very un European in that sort of way. There
is no tradition, if that makes sense. I think. I
think Chris and I have a pretty similar upbringing, and
I totally attest everything I do to how I was raised.
I come from to immigrant parents. You know, my dad's
in immigrant from Italy. Mom's immigrant for Spain. I look
at someone like my father, who, you know, I could
(17:47):
never be brave enough to literally pick up and just
go somewhere else, Like I just it's not me. I
can't do it. It's terrifying. And this dude did it
at a time when you know, it's just such a
different time and you know, we're so growing up. My
father is the hardest working person I know. I've never
seen someone work as hard. He taught himself things in
an environment where there wasn't a YouTube channel. You know,
(18:08):
Like it's the concept of a guy who can you know,
who's not formally educated really well, you know, like just
to literally pick up and have this intrinsic business business
sense and understand that the immense work ethic will yield results.
You know, God blessed the dude. But like he found
time to like bring me to baseball and you know,
or let's go do this, and he found the time.
(18:30):
And you know, it's a big reason the way I operate,
and I will say I can never work as hard
as you can, not even close. So that's a big
part of how Chris and I operate. And we have
similar upbringings and like that culture it must be like
a New Yorker thing, like everything has to be immediate.
You've got to do it. And this idea that you
can you can better yourself by just putting your head
down and working. You know, that's really the key here
(18:51):
is that you can get anything you want to have
just put your head down. Try. We think potool is awesome.
And the thing is I've said to everyone has spoken
to about it that if Paul Too fails, it's not
because the execution was bad. It's because we just made
a mistake somewhere, or we we miss misjudged the environment,
or we misjudged the customer. Are people stop caring about
getting sick and don't give a maybe maybe? But we
(19:13):
like the execution was right, you know, Like I've taken
the approach of you know, customer services paramount. I think
understanding your customers and giving them the ability to reach
out to you seven is huge. So like you know,
Paul Tool is a good example. On that website alone,
there is a full customer service ticketing back in. No
one is going to have a hard time getting ahold
(19:34):
of us or one of our employees. Like you're gonna
get someone if you have a question silly or whatever
it may be, or serious, you're gonna be able to
reach me. There is literally a full eight hundred number
that one of our one of our employees is a
voiceover actress. So I was like, all right, get on that.
You're gonna record all the voice prompts. And this is worse.
I mean, the customer understands that there's a sense of trust,
(19:55):
you know, you know that, like if you can see
that we've put effort into this, this is not a
fly by. I think we're gonna be here. If you
went to the pot tool website right now and you
didn't listen to this podcast, you would have no idea
that this company, like you would think you guys have
been around for ten years. Like the way you're running
this this specific company, I know you guys are doing
things forever together, and I think obviously that bleeds into this,
(20:16):
like you know how to run a company. When you
google pot toool, the Google ad comes up at the top,
and you're like, Okay, these guys mean business because they're
putting money behind they That's how I think of a company.
It's like, all right, if they're paying Google for ads
to be at the top, then they truly believe in
what they're doing, and it's that they want me to
see this first and let me click on it. And
then you go to the website and it is it's beautiful,
(20:37):
and there's right there there's a video on how to
use this product, what it is. You've got all the pictures,
and I literally looked at it and I was like,
I know this is a newer product, but I'm looking
at this and I'm like, I would think people all
over the world have been using this and I'm the
one on the outside touching things with my hands instead
of using this. So you have done this amazing job
(20:58):
at creating this phone mode, I think for the consumer.
And it's obviously because you do have a great product.
You're not trying to like trick anybody. It really is
a great product and it is very useful. But I
want to commend you guys for that because when I
go to the website, I'm like, oh, yeah, I got it.
I want this. I trust them. You know when you
said that, it feels like a you know, brand or
a product that's been around for ten years. Paul and
(21:19):
I have hit the point where our stride is because
it is ten years in the making. I mean there's
a whole ecosystem of things that go with paltol. I
mean palt tool is not you know, a flash of
the pan thing like We've got endless amounts of stuff
and I'll give you like another like polism. I don't
take notes or anything down, so like they're all just
jumbled in my head. I have no not like that.
Here's the hell out of me. I disappointments every song.
(21:40):
Chris is shaking his head. I feel like this is
a very sensitive subject for you guys. Oh it is.
It absolutely is, because he knows, like you know, I'll
call it like two in the morning, like I lost something, man,
Like we've lost all the passports in the sight. It's
on everything, you know, like I sent this to you
five times, you know. So there's there's literally like no
no keeping. I don't keep an agenda, my calendar. I'm
(22:02):
just like I'll get there, like, oh it's a little
a little haphazardous of my life is kind of how
it goes. But you know, you brought up a really
interesting point about the pomo of the of the product.
Nothing is not thought about in terms of the experience,
Like what we're trying to lead you down. And one
really important thing with the bolt tool especially is that
we know that everybody can do a small thing, and
(22:22):
a lot of small things add up to a really
big thing. You know. It's it's a small concept of
me doing something to help somebody else, and the bolt
tool is the same thing. I mean, like you not
interacting with something in the public space and not spreading
Germans potentially to it, or not bringing on to you
protects my mom, my dad. You know. It's it's that
part of it that was really a key stone when
(22:44):
we started. We want to do our part, you know,
and we think we can do something that might be
small in a tangible sense, but it's huge. Well, earlier
you said something about you had an idea and then
you went back to it. Years later, you bought the machine,
the engraving machine, didn't do anything with it, and it
was important that you didn't get frustrated that you didn't
do anything with that machine or that idea, because later
(23:06):
you did. And I think that's so important for people
because a lot of times they come up with this
great idea for a side hustle, for whatever it may be,
and if it doesn't work out in the first ten days,
it's a failure and they move on. And that is
something huge to take away for anyone listening to this
podcast that you never know what that idea will do
down the line, and don't get frustrated or out at
(23:27):
yourself in that moment for it not working right away.
It's a tool set you're building. You're building a tool set,
and the tool set will help you cope with life too.
It's not just you know, a product pot idea. It's
you're you're dealing with coping skills, coping with the stress
of doing something you know. I think it's the biggest
part in all this is being able to manage your
feelings throughout the process. I mean, it's very easy when
(23:48):
you're building something up and you get very emotionally attached
to it and then you hit like a little speed
bump and you're like, I can't do it anymore, or
you see someone else's product you're like, oh man, they
beat me. To know they didn't just keep doing what
you're doing. If your idea was right and your execution
was spot on, it will work or shelf it. And
which is not a big thing too, is to understand
(24:08):
the ability to stop with something. You know, there's a
balance here, like you can't be perpetually trying to you know,
it's the beat the dead horse thing, like you know
you can't it doesn't work anymore, So give it up
and then really really get your resources to something else.
I think we've had a good track record of measuring
if something is right for us. I think that was
really important. You start to think, um, you know, is
(24:31):
this a market I understand? Or you know, why do
something that you really don't understand you need? I think
sometimes people it's it's kind of like that concept that
if you really had money, you should be investing in
real estate. If you don't know real estate, though, it's
probably not putting your time. Maybe it's something else that
you do understand, you know, maybe you really understand art,
or maybe you understand and so on and so forth.
(24:52):
So I think that we've that, you know, that's a
big part of us vetting um kind of the things
we get into. You know, for us, it was like, well,
how much storage space do you have? Maybe even something
like that determined like how we kind of came to
pot tool. You want to think about a product that
fits in a certain envelope that's in a certain size,
that you can store in a certain warehouse that you know,
and and all of these sort of little conditions that
(25:14):
we put ourselves through to think about, like if this
is a good idea for us to take on. You
guys both told me that social media is your weakness.
You obviously have a ton of strong points, ideas analytics,
the aesthetic, everything, like, you've got all these skills, but
that is apparently the one thing you guys say you're
both bad at. So how do you survive in this
(25:34):
world of where everything is social media? It's it's a
real challenge, I think, at least coming from me. Like
on a personal level, I don't really utilize personal social media,
you know, for the most part, I try and maintain
a relatively private life. I mean in terms of you know,
I'm the most open person in the world amongst my
inner st art of course, you know. So it's not
a matter of being private for the sense of being product.
(25:57):
It's just like I just never found all in doing
the social media thing. And I then Chris kind of
feels the same way. So if I had to say,
that's definitely the biggest challenge because I don't intrinsically do
it in my life. We get by I mean, and
it's an essential part of the business. But you know,
like I mentioned earlier to you, like people don't realize
how difficult managing a social media aspect of the business is.
(26:18):
You know, it's this whole thing onto itself. And I've
listened to some of your other podcasts and there's some
amazing people on there who were just awesome at the
social media part. They've got downpacked it really incredible. But
to me, it's definitely been one of the points where
like I will definitely take a lot of advice from
people in that space and say like, well, how do
you pull this off? How did you do? The followers
like what do you do? And typically the answers work,
(26:40):
you know, that's usually the that's usually the hard part
is that you just need to put time in and
everyone wants a quick isn't Yeah, there just isn't there.
So while our strong points are definitely execution from a
product standpoint, delivery standpoint, you know, all those things that
make it function. Definitely, if I had to learn more,
it would be sitting there and you know, just looking
at someone who's excellent at social media. You know, sit
(27:02):
there and like watching influencer and like, how did you
pull this off? Where did you get this contract from?
Like and then kind of see what they do. I mean,
some people just really gifted and talented. But I think
as a as a company, it's crazy how how much
weight we as a consumer put into someone's social media brand.
Now think about social media wasn't around to this except
(27:22):
like ten years ago, less than ten years ago. And
now it's like, well, their Instagram doesn't look like they're legit,
and it's like, why are we putting so much weight
into this? But we are. So there's a pressure as
a company. You may have the best idea in the
whole world, but you have to then make sure your
Instagram is great, and then your Facebook for the different
consumer you want, and then are you on Twitter? Are
you on TikTok? Like it's just it's too much. At
(27:44):
some point, it's just impossible. It's never gonna happen. But
you know, Carla Marie's brand is exactly like I would
look up to you and say, I don't know how
she pulls this off, but it's excellent. I mean, the
amount of content you put up. I don't know how
you do it, you know, Like you know, we're talking
about being workaholics, but like you know, it's no different
(28:05):
than what you do. I mean, you're up at four
o'clock in the morning, probably a three thirty, just to
get into the office to start recording. And then now
we're speaking to you after you just record the show,
and now you're probably gonna leave us and go to
social media like you're seven. You know, it's the same thing.
And you know, I think this addiction we have to
our our smart devices. I mean, you'd see a d
M slide in a twelve o'clock at night, You're like,
(28:25):
I gotta get that. It's probably something, you know, I
think the I think the hard Parker probably be just
getting all this feedback, like the troll feedback. It's gonna
be really tough. That's it has been on fire lately,
let me tell you. But like I'm at a point
now where it's I laugh at it, you know. And
and the difference between me and like a company, like
a product. So if someone's trolling me, they are literally
(28:48):
trolling me as a human, not a product. So it's
that's a whole another podcast where you talk about and
I think that I have been very lucky and that
I grew up with thick skin. I grew up on
the East Coast, and there have been comments that have
put me into a spiral. But also I know that
that person has something way off in their brain that
they're attacking me, someone who has done literally nothing wrong,
(29:11):
and it's just you just have to let him roll off,
just roll just okay, goodbye, or you just put them
on blast on social media and let everyone else who's
good attack them, which is good and bad sometimes, but
it happens. So we got connected, Paul, I don't even
know what year it was, but do you have any idea? Yeah,
I mean more than five years ago, seven maybe so.
(29:35):
And it kind of goes back to you talking about
your tool set or reaching out to different people. You
guys have a personalization business, and that's when we got connected.
Back then, when I was on Elvis right in the
morning show doing what's trending, you had reached out. When
Anthony and I moved out here to Seattle. You made
us um Carl Mae Anthony show luggage tags at the time,
and it's just you've kind of been a part of
(29:56):
different points of my journey, the Elvis journey, the you know,
the show learning out now with my son Ustler's podcast journey.
But that first time when you reached out, what was like,
what made you say, I'm going to email this person
and to see if I can work with her on anything,
Because the worst that can happen is you ignore us,
like there's no there's no it's only winning, right, there's
there's no harm in reaching out to someone. So listen.
(30:19):
The advantage of you being on seven hundred is that
I think that first time we did it, we literally
sent one of our employees over with like boxes of chocolate.
Were like, here we go, We're gonna just like bombard
the office with stuff. You did, right, Yeah, we we did,
like our favorite chocolate spots. We sent over some stuff.
Let's just send over, you know, to everybody, a bunch
of stuff. And what's the worst that happens? You don't
(30:40):
like it, that's the worst. I mean, Like, we didn't
take that shot, we'd never hit it, you know. So
it panned out clearly, so you know, and we've been
listening to that show forever. So when we finally got
recognition from you guys. This is great, But the secret
I think the Elvis Rancho was just sending food food,
I mean food for anyone really. But having that connection
is cool no matter what it is. It doesn't have
to be a connection between someone who happens to be
(31:02):
on the radio. It's any connection you can make with anyone.
I always try to preach that in this podcast, that
connections are key and networking is important. And we often
think of networking the way we were taught in college,
which was like handing your business card to someone. No,
that has evolved so much and you're talking about, you know,
all the people you can reach out to in your
circle just to ask them a question. It's just that
(31:23):
kind of thing is important, whether it's in your industry
or out of your industry. The connection with humans is
more important than anything. And I think right now we're
all kind of learning that. But that is something that
I think is so key, and I'm glad you mentioned that.
How reaching out to someone, what have you got to lose?
Literally nothing, it's only winning on that stuff. I mean,
(31:44):
that's that's just how we've always gone about things. It's
a big part of it. So I think, you know,
any shot you don't take, you'll never hit. There are
special kind of people that can be side hustlers and
do what they do and launch their own business. I'm
in awe episode after episode, and then I meet people
like you guys, who are just it just doesn't end.
You are serial entrepreneurs in a way where like that
(32:06):
is your life. Like you're just gonna keep doing it NonStop.
You're gonna come up with the next idea, and it's
incredibly inspiring and it's kind of like addicting to see
people do that, and you want to see what's next
for them, and you want to be a part of
their journey. And I hope everyone else feels that about
you guys, but they don't even know. Like we just
scratched the surface with you guys. You've got a million
things and we'll do other podcasts down the line with that.
(32:27):
But between the two of you, you know, you've known
each other since high school, You've done a million things together.
But really, what do you think the number is on
the amount of ideas that you guys have had together? Idea,
no idea, the ones that never've got. I've got some
bad ones. I mean, like you know, three o'clock here.
(32:49):
At one point, I was like, we should turn avocado
pits into a resent to make plastic, to make recyclable,
Like there's one of those. Yeah, but we can figure
it out so away like a whole million dollar thing,
you know. But like and stuff like that, it's all
over the place. And it's funny too, because like, you know,
I've got two young kids and I watched them and
I'm like, huh, I got like, this guy would be
(33:11):
something for the kids that we can make. But that's
part of the hardest thing and honestly the hardest thing
and everything that we do, I mean, definitely at least
for my So I'm taking time away my kids is
really problematic, you know. So the balancing app of being
dead and being the same guy who also puts food
the table, that's you know. You know, I told Chris
at one point, if my son is six years old
(33:31):
in a day, I only have the six year old
in a day once, you know, like I lost a
moment in time because I was off doing something else
that I do think long term will be beneficial for everybody.
But could I have just scrapped all of it and
just spent more time with like what's worth more, I
don't know, And it's just trying to balance the whole thing.
That is absolutely the hardest challenge, And the whole thing
is being as good as my dad want was to
(33:53):
balancing it like me trying to have anything. It's impossible.
It's impossible. You know. Someone told me something once that
was really moving. But like I guess the cliches that
kids goes to fortune, right, that's the whole And this
guy told me, he's like kids are inexpensive, that we
make it seem expensive by thinking they want to go
to Disney World fifty times, and they just want your time,
and your time is the most valuable thing you have.
(34:15):
So and it doesn't physically cost any dollars, you know,
Like that's all they need is just more of you.
So understanding that and realizing that, like I've got to
find enough time where like I need to be with
my son and my daughter from this time till this time. Um,
they need me as a dad, my wife needs me,
you know, everyone needs me. But in the same token,
(34:36):
when they shut down to go to bed, I've got
to go back into work mode, uh and do my
part to make sure that we keep going forward and
that you know, the next generation will just do better
than I did. So I think Chris Fiel is the
same way. I mean, like it's the hardest. The hardest
thing is just the time. I don't know how. I
have two cats, and I'm like, this is insane. I
I don't know, they're not cats. Cats are harder fun.
(35:00):
It's exhausting though, it's draining, and it's one of the
things I did want to ask you guys about was
time management. Because you are involved in so many different
things and companies and brands and ideas. It's just do
you actually set aside time for your different things. Paul's
actually probably one of the most talented people at Focus UM,
and Paul's working. He is completely focused on working. It's actually,
(35:22):
I'm not that way. I can't. I'm looking. I'm like,
I'm actually amazed. That's really tough. So you know, when
I when I see Paul, if he if he's starting
to work on something, he'll he'll put three hours of
undivided attention into it. Like I that's not the way
I function, you know, I think actually that's that's that
really helps, especially with what he's talking about, because he's
(35:43):
able to say this is the time I'm going to
dedicate to this. Nothing is going to get in my way,
and then as soon as he's done, he steps away. Yeah,
I mean, yes, it was a perfect example. Um, we're
finally my son's baseball team finally got back on the
field and ironically got canceled. So some parent must have
not wanted to go the cancel the whole. So we
got together with a few of our close friends and
we there are social distancing and you know, we've had
(36:04):
kids kind of throw around a little bit and do
some activity outside. But like I think we finished up
at like eight thirty and I'm like, all right, guys,
off the shop and then just pick up when over there.
Came back home at I don't know, ten eleven o'clock,
called Chris to kind of touch on a few things,
and then you know, I just woke up and did again.
I mean, you know I've always said I dwell repeat like, yeah,
you know, I completely dwell on chaos. That's my If
(36:26):
I don't have chaos around me, I can't function. So
you'll never see me, you know, move into a rural,
quiet area won't happen. I need the constant new York
City chaos, and it's got to be running two four
seven at a hundred and ten miles an hour, you know,
lots of coffee. Have you ever been on vacation? It's
kind of yes, I try. I think this year was
actually canceled. But good old coronavirus you said earlier, you know,
(36:49):
the little things to do something big. Pottle helps possibly
save a single life by just doing something small but
not spreading germs and using this product. Is there something
that you want to do in that world, like environment
or whatever it is you want to be able to
create a product that will blank. I'm just trying to
figure out how your brains work, and I don't know
(37:11):
how I will ever do that. It's like I couldn't
even give an answer because we don't know ourselves. But
what we do know is that port tool is just
another building block onto something bigger and better. And it's honestly,
it's it's very easy to embrace products and ideas what
you have that um clearly aligned with the positive result,
something that can actually help somebody. So we we always
usually tend to fall back on those type of ideas.
(37:31):
I mean, yeah, we don't do things that we don't
feel are actually right to do. That's another big part
of it. We don't just go for a money grab
on something that it doesn't fit the profile things we
want to do. So you'll never see us do some
fly by night thing which is just you know, it
doesn't fit our personal lives and how we actually interact
with life in general. I mean, even stuff with the
po tool, we did the best we could to make
(37:53):
it as environmentally friendly as possible. I mean, like we
tried our best. Like the little plastic bag that holds
the stylus is some by the gray old plastics. Tell anyone,
we just did it, and I love that, you know,
It's just it's just we had to do it right.
So we tried as much as we could to kind
of cut down unpacking materials. So while we're not the
best at it, you know, we're learning, and I want
people to give us feedback, and we're trying, you know,
(38:14):
and I think we can do better every time, right,
So we at least set out with the fact that
we're trying to do good and if we make a mistake,
check me on it, let me know and I will
correct it. Like I didn't know, you know, like, we
need that feedback. So I think that's a big part
going forward. Is there another idea, grand idea? I'm full
of random ideas. I don't know. I mean, there's definitely
something not written down anywhere. We'll never find them. We're
(38:36):
not written anywhere. They're just like appear, and you know,
and Chris has got a bunch of his own that
we have to keep bouncing off back and forth and
it'll work. We'll get we'll make it happen. We're just
trying every day just good bye and do a little
better in this world, and a small owle piece, you know,
and listening to other podcasts that you put out and
just listen to the inspirational people. Everyone's got such great
ideas that you can just listen to them. You're like, wow,
(38:57):
I like, I don't know how you got there, but
it's an amazing journey. Yeah, at the end of it,
I got a cool story. That's probably the best thing
about this whole thing. First a great friend in it.
So yeah, that's great. Well, thank you guys. I appreciate
you for taking the time out of your insane schedules.
And I know that the time difference and I know Paul,
You've got kids to get to and and all the things.
So thank you for being here and being on this podcast.
(39:19):
I hope everyone can hear the two of you and
be like, all right, you know what I can do this.
I've got ideas and then you've inspired them. I'm a
hundred percent positive that that has happened. So thank you
having d M me at one o'clock in the morning,
and I will respond. So I'm looking forward, But can
you give me the Paul from Paul Tool, but with
your accent. I'm even trying the accent. I did not
(39:46):
practice it. I can't say I can't even say my
name correctly. Okay, Paul is not sound right like I've
heard other people say, well, and it's not the way
I say it. So someone did me wrong on this. Uh.
And then Chris totally he totally named it Paul Tool.
So I would have to answer the phone that way
and completely butcher it, you know, and have to describe
it like that's an animal thing, the foot, you know,
like I got. But the most challenge d M. Yeah,
(40:14):
Paul from Paw Tool. That's how we're ending this. Thank you. Okay,
that was a lot and that wasn't even a fraction
of what these guys do. They have so many different
things that they're a part of, so many different other jobs.
Because it's not day jobs for them, they do a
billion things. I'm not even kidding you. We had a
(40:34):
call before this podcast, and I don't normally do that
with guests. I kind of just jump right into the podcast,
but we had a call ahead of time because I
didn't want to miss out on any of their story
and they have so much that we decided to focus
on paw Tool p A W t O L. So
check out pot Tool. You can get yourself one hit
the link below. Thank you so much for being here.
(40:55):
You can always email me Side Hustlers Podcasts at gmail
dot com with any ideas that you may have. This
podcast has been produced by Houston Tillie. Thank you for
being here, Stay safe, keep hustling, and be a good
human
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