How to Start a Company Without Quitting Your Job - Kim Perell 🏢 EP124
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Money Mondays. I am here with a special guest, a special friend of mine. She is an investor in over 100 companies. Let me repeat, over 100 companies. That is hard to grasp. I always talk about I'm an investor in 43 companies. That is more than double what I've invested into and we're racing with each other because she's still investing left and right into companies. She's also the co-founder in a company called Juni, which we will get into with her. She founded it with

Jay Shetty, one of our obviously the biggest influencers ever on social media that's been spreading the good word and positive information, which is what I like because he spreads positivity across social media.

And she had an exit and then she had another exit. She got all these different companies going on. So there's lots to dive into. But as you guys know, we cover three core topics, how to make money and invest money, how to give it away to charity. All these episodes range from 32 to 38 minutes for your listening pleasure because the average workout is 45 minutes. The average commute to work is 45 minutes. So this episode will be less than 38 minutes. So you can listen to the whole thing in one shot. Why did I say that?

We have a 93% listen-through rate, which keeps us in the top 10 of the podcast charts because of you guys listening, sharing, commenting, subscribing, and all that. So we thank you for that. We've kept this thing ad-free for over 115 episodes for you. This is a free shout-out to Junie.

So right off the gate, if we could, please, Kim Perel, give us a quick two-minute bio so we can get straight to the money. Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much for having me. Of course. So excited to see you today and just love being with you, Dan. Thank you. Two-minute bio. Okay, well, let's see. I started my first company at my kitchen table in Hawaii, and then I sold that five years later. Then I sold my last company for $235 million to Singapore Telecom. Worked at a publicly traded company out of Singapore for almost six years, and

Invested as you said probably in close to 150 companies. I know but it had at least 50 exits still good vintages to come Yes, so I've invested and started young started young and I think honestly to your point It's about giving back so being able to continue to pay that forward my grandma made a bet on me And I really you know look to pay that forward. That's awesome. Okay, so on the make money side

Why do you think it's important for entrepreneurs starting a company to make some money first before they ask investors for a check? Yeah, you have to have...

Proof of concept, product market fit. As an investor, and I invest a lot, if you just tell me you have a great dream, and I love a great dream, right? But if no one actually is willing to pay for that dream, it is a hobby. Right. And so you need to actually be out there and be like, Dan, are you going to buy my Juni? Because it is delicious. It is only five calories, zero sugar. It's got ashwagandha and lion's mane and reishi mushroom. Dan, you're going to be like, Kim, I would pay five bucks for that. Good news, it's not five bucks, but someone wants to buy it. Right.

So the way I describe it is, prove that someone cares. People vote with their wallets. And will it sell in the wild? Meaning, will this product, Junie, sell without Jay Shetty, without his wife, without Kim Perreault? Will it sell on the shelf by itself when no one's around to talk about it? And if it does, because they see the color or the name and then they taste the flavor and now they're addicted...

That is investable, right? Proving that someone cares and it can sell when no one's around. I totally agree. Well, we actually just had our first launch at Costco and it sold like hotcakes. So I feel like, you know, regardless of who's involved, it's a great drink. But I also think it's based on market opportunity. There's a big market opportunity. People are moving towards health and wellness and they're really focused on fitness. And the drink's perfect for that.

The best thing that could happen is someone buys and has no idea who you are and has no idea who Jay is and has no idea. They just like it. They see it. That's when you become 300 million, 500 million, 1 billion, 2 billion, 3 billion. We've seen some major exits recently, like some humongous $1.9 billion for another drink recently to Pepsi. There's some wild stuff happening. Why do you like investing into the CPG in the food and beverage space?

Oh, because you can feel it. So I spent 20 years in tech, which is the digital world. And so now being able to invest and create in the physical world, my kids actually know what I'm talking about. And I say, Junie's at Costco. They love Costco. So they're like, we can go to Costco, ride the cart, get the samples, drink the drink. For them, there's a connection point that I didn't have before. And so it's really exciting for me to be able to share that with other people, even being able to come here and give you a Junie, right? Right.

Okay, so tough question. Ready for this? Entrepreneur, they're working nine to five. They're making four grand a month. Their husband or wife or girlfriend or boyfriend's making another four or five grand a month. They got a good little household income going along. They're fighting the good fight, but they want to start a company. At what point do you think it's comfortable for them to make the leap to start that company and quit that job? Okay, well, first of all, if you're working a nine to five, that's only eight hours, and that's what everyone does. So you're definitely not going to be able to do something that...

create, like create a company, you actually need to take the next eight hours and start the company. Like I always say, don't quit your day job. Like do not quit your day job. Use your day job to then fund your side hustle. And when your side hustle has enough opportunity and enough revenue, then make the jump. So I don't know, maybe it's 80%, but definitely don't quit your day job and definitely spend eight hours working, eight hours sleeping. There's eight hours of opportunity. What are you doing with those eight

hours is what I ask people. It's like you're surfing the internet. Please stop surfing the internet. Let's create. Let's innovate. Let's ideate. All right. I want you guys to listen to me very clearly. Years ago,

I was very passionate because there's so many people talking on social media saying, "Just tell your boss to screw off and quit your job and just go out there and sleep on someone's couch." You do not need to do that. We are in a digital age. Your cell phone is like the mobile apps, the companies that are out there, the platforms that are out there. You can build a company from your phone from anywhere in the world

in moments for cheap or free. Back in our days, when I started my clothing brand, My Energy Drink, my drink was in 55,000 stores. You know how? Because I got in the car and drove to 43 distributors, talked to Budweiser, Coors, Miller, and Pepsi. I didn't have social media. We had MySpace back then. This was 2005, 6, 7, 8, 9. I didn't have the things that we have now. Now, you guys can post on social media and 10 million people see it today. Back then, I had to wait six months for a magazine to come out or wait a year for a billboard to go up. The

The power you have right this second from your social media, from your phone, for AI, for tech, for platforms is so cheap and free, you do not need to quit your day job. Save up money, get yourself a nest egg, because no matter what you think, let me give you a quick example. Let's say Kim and I invest into your company. I put in 250K, she puts in 500K, you got $750,000 into your company. Sounds cool, right? You go out and start your own version of a beverage company, and you go crush it and do $1.3 million in sales the first year. Guess how much you make?

It rhymes with zero. Yeah, you're losing. You're losing money. You just lost all our money. Exactly. It's invested. That's right. Our valuation went up, so you made us happy. You did $1.3 million. We're proud of you, but you're going to probably need more money, and you definitely didn't take a salary. Year two, you go crush it. You do $3.6 million. You double the sales. Kim and Dan are happy. We're proud of you. You doubled our valuation again. Woo-hoo! We're proud of you as an entrepreneur. You made nothing.

And so we want you to, and what we're both saying is, you do not need to quit your day job. Save up some money, work from the side, work the extra eight hours, work on weekends, and do it from your phone. All right, Kim. On the investing side, you have so many options. Stock market, cryptocurrency, real estate, all these different things you could be investing into. Why do you like angel investing? Why do you like taking a ride on these different products?

I mean, I love to see a hundred times exit, Dan. So for me, I mean, I'm an entrepreneur at heart. So, and I know that if you can get in early and if you are in your betting where I bet, which is seed early stage, right? Like the beginning, you're going to have a very big outcome if you can be a success. But,

I just love the entrepreneur. I love someone that's like, I'm just going to go all in. And like, regardless of what people tell you, because when I started my first company, I had $10,000 and people told me I was crazy. The internet is a fad. There's like, get a J job, Kim. This is terrible. Like, seriously, this is not what you should be doing. Now, hindsight, you know, obviously the internet is not a fad. And I made a lot of money. And that $10,000 investment, I mean, millions and millions came back. So I think...

Making those bets on people is great. Now, granted, I'm diversified. So I'm investing in crypto. I'm investing in startups. I'm investing in real estate. I'm across the board investor. But I love the entrepreneur. You're addicted to this one. I am. I love it. I love it. 150 investments is a lot. I mean, you are like, oh my gosh, what else can we start? It's hard. Okay. So we're not going to fully tell you guys what we started. There's something we're working on. But it's related to vision boards.

For the last two decades, you've had vision board parties with your friends and family at your house. Yeah. Why are vision boards so important and why do you have these parties? Oh my gosh. First of all, I love a vision board, right? As you know, and I've been doing it. My mom actually started doing it with me when we were kids and just having that opportunity to sit back and take part

So what we did is, you know, you take magazines, you put them out. Yep, you cut out things that call to you. So it's less focus from the mind. It's more from the heart. And I think that's really what makes a difference in taking out different clippings, putting them on a poster board, and then putting it in somewhere we can see it every single day. And so we've been doing this for 20 years, to your point. Honestly, I probably have success rate of my vision boards coming to life of 92%.

I'm not joking. So every year, I mean, if it didn't work, obviously I wouldn't keep doing it, right? Like every year, if you haven't done one, you should actually go do one because it's a game changer and it's a manifestation of what you want to create and like what your soul wants to create. And that's what brings energy and life and purpose, right? And meaning to people. When you see a founder, right?

Do you know right away? Does it take some time? Do you have to get into the weeds first? Do you have to like spend months with them? Like, when do you think you know if you're going to invest into that person's company? I mean, number one, I look at, so I actually wrote another book looking at what do I invest in and looking back at the successes that I've had and the outcomes, big outcomes that I've had. And what are the traits of great entrepreneurs? And number one is having a crystal clear vision of what you want to achieve. You have to, it goes back to vision boards.

if you don't know where you're going, how do you expect to get there? So having that vision, most founders, they have that, right? And I think even with the tea, Jay and Roddy, they had a vision of how to bring something healthy and a drink that could create something for me and you. It's called Juni, just you and I. So having that vision of what you want to create to create a mindful moment. So whatever it is, that entrepreneur has to have that vision. Number two, they have to have the passion, which is like the fuel to

Keep going when everyone else is going to give up. And trust me, how many times have you wanted to give up? Yeah. It's easy to quit. The hard thing is to keep going. I mean, you have to be able to take action. So really understanding, are you willing to take that first step? Are you willing to risk failure? If you're not willing to risk failure, you'll never be a millionaire. For sure. I mean, without a doubt.

And I think having great relationships, I mean, me and you both value that. So it's having those relationships and the people that you've had relationships for a very long time, people that you can call when it's not good, but when it's good too, right? It's always nice to know. And then really just understanding, again,

What's gonna really drive that person like the biggest thing from an entrepreneur is are you resilient? Sure, like because it's I know and I talk about all the time as an entrepreneur, you know, I've been sued I've been served I've been bankrupt. I've been broke honestly, I've lost everything and I still believe Regardless of circumstance that I will still be successful and I think that belief is what pushes entrepreneurs through and

Right now, if you were kidnapped and dropped off in a random country, how long do you think it would take for you to rebuild? You got a cell phone and you're in a different country. Can't call your family for one year.

I mean, but we're hustlers, so I think I'm pretty confident. I think we'd have to assess the situation. But now with AI and all of the tools available, it's never been easier to start a company. Right. Ever. It's mind-boggling, actually. It's insane. Like, how lucky are we? Most all the platforms are free. Yeah. And then like the big ones, if you want like the Shopify Plus or you want this Plus, those are like $200 and $300. It's not like you need tens of thousands of dollars anymore. Right.

Back in our days, it was like to build a website was 50 grand in four months or six months if you were lucky.

If you wanted to actually start an LLC or corporation, it'd take you months to wait around. I can get it in a day now. It's amazing. Every aspect of business now is so fast. Anyways. Well, I think now I have the experience. You do too, right? I have decades of experience. I mean, that's why I wrote my book. I have so much. No, but it's interesting. My new book, Mistakes That Made Me a Millionaire, is all about the mistakes I made. I've made so many mistakes. So now, if I started...

from scratch, knowing what I know now, I would be able to skip a lot of lines, a lot of the heartache that you have. The dummy text. Yes, the dummy text. Oh my gosh. I made so many mistakes through my journey. And if you can learn from those and skip those, you can obviously make millions faster. How can people mentally get over the ego part that mistakes are okay, that mistakes are part of the process? I think it's being okay to look stupid.

being, you know, okay to ask for help. People usually, and I talk about, you know, one of my mistakes that I made was thinking I could do it alone. And I thought I could do it alone because everyone told me I was crazy. I didn't want to look like I was under, like I was not qualified to run a company at 23 and having no experience, right? So you just don't want to look stupid so you don't ask questions. Right.

And I think the most important thing to do is to ask. Like no one's successful alone. I haven't made, honestly, you can't make millions by yourself. Maybe you make it once or like one, but honestly, it's not scalable. It's not sustainable because then you're going to burn out. And it's actually not fun. You want to do, like build great things with great people. It is fun and energizing to do that. Okay. On the charity side of life.

Why do you think it's important for companies, brands, or products to have some type of charity either within their brand or within their office, within the culture?

Yeah, I think we have a mission, like, and a purpose just to give back and to help the next, to help people less fortunate. I mean, I really do. And for me, my mission is entrepreneurs. So I spend most of my time giving my time actually back to entrepreneurs. I especially focus on women entrepreneurs that I can help, that I can give a hand up because I've had so many amazing individuals help me and I want to return the favor. Yeah.

So if someone's trying to figure out how to get into charity, the way I say it is you'll be more passionate if there's someone that happened to, meaning someone in the household or someone in your circle was homeless. Mm-hmm.

Someone had a situation with their child or with their parents or their grandparents having Alzheimer's. Something happened within their family or within their friend circle. They'll have more passion behind it. Are there certain charities that you like or certain concepts that you like? There's not to be a specific name of a charity, but are there certain charities like you like because I can go help the kids or I can go help entrepreneurs or I can go help women? Yeah, I think for me, to your point, it's very it has to be personal.

And so I think my brands that I've invested in, you know, I'm invested in a clean beauty company that's, you know, focused on sunscreen called K-Skin. And one in five or four or five people I think are going to get cancer over the course of their life. It's huge. Whatever the number is, and I'm not quoting it correctly, but it's significant. And so trying to find causes that are very personal, you

Like make the biggest impact, right? And whether it be Alzheimer's or breast cancer, whatever it is that personally resonates with you makes the most impact and you feel really fulfilled. Right.

So there's the age-old question of balance, right? You have four children. You have a loving husband. You've got investments. You've got businesses. You've got travel. You've got life. You've got family. You've got friends. Like vision board parties. Like there's so many aspects of Kim. How do you balance it all? Oh, my gosh. I mean, for me, to be honest, it's not work-life separation. It's work-life integration. Most of my relationships are all integrated into work.

and doing fun things together 'cause my passion is creating and building. And I think also prioritizing, I say no to a lot of things that aren't either across my passion. I have family first all the time. And then to be honest, I love to create. So I say no to just a lot of things that aren't in that zone of genius where I'm at my best. So knowing when you're at your best, like what gives you energy and what drains your energy and then prioritizing accordingly

and try not to do everything. So with these 150 investments over the years and more coming, why not just cut a check to Juni? Why not just put in here's 100K or here's a million or here's whatever number? As an investor, why actually be the co-founder?

Oh my gosh, it's so much. I'm a student of life. I love to learn. I'm now a beverage expert, which makes me a better investor. So if you would have said to me before I founded Junie, and I'm in it, right? Like I can, I know every detail. So it's so fun to be able to now evaluate new investments because my knowledge base is so vast and I just love to learn. So I think you really have to

Honestly, if you want to operate or invest, I like to do both, but love to learn and have a good time. If you love who you're building with and love the product or challenge you're trying to solve in the market,

I mean, this is energizing to do, right? And if it's energizing, this is like filling your bucket up, which is amazing. So some companies, honestly, I just give a check and advise and I help make connections. Some companies actually I believe in, like I'm healthy. I love biohacking, everything about health I like to do. So it makes a lot of sense. And I want to drink something that's better for me than like a soda, right? I mean, I'm on the go. I just, it feels good to put good things in your body.

So there's only one question that I ask on every single episode and I've never gotten the same answer before I'm, very intrigued to hear kim perell's answer. All right, so many many many many years from now Hopefully it's hundreds of years from now and it's finally time for kim to pass away These 150 investments become 500 investments 500 investments become worth billions and billions and billions of dollars What percentage do you leave to those four children?

Oh my gosh, that's a good question. I mean, we told our kids at 18, they're out. So I'm very into having to be out. And they're like, oh, mom, it's coming. You know, I got only 13 good years left. So, I mean, honestly, we haven't thought about that in terms of what we're going to leave or not leave to our children. I think just because right now we're in a building phase of life. But

I don't want, I mean, it would handicap my children to give them too much. Sure. So likely, if you know me, you're likely not going to give them much. I mean, honestly, leaving them books. The books are a roadmap to success. Read the books, you'll be successful. So I really don't want to, we make it a point, we don't give a lot, you know, because I don't think you need to. I think if we teach them how to be great little leaders, like that's the best gift I can ever give them. So-

I mean, the honest answer is probably not a lot. Very little. I've heard zero. I've heard a hundred. I've heard so many different versions. No, I don't think. I'm probably closer to the zero part, to be honest. You know, because I started with nothing. Sure. And I think that gave me tenacity and passion and grit. And I want them to have the same...

and drive that I have. - What about allowance? Is there a weekly allowance for a five year old or a 10 year old? - Oh my gosh, we have a chore chart. They do chores at five. They get a lot more for cleaning the dog poop than they do for washing the dishes. But we're very big on chore charts. We're very big on, you have ability to make money to buy whatever they want, which they don't want much, right? Like I don't even know what they're, you know, they actually don't want to spend it. I'm like, you gotta spend it too. There's no point to make it if you don't actually get to spend it, right? You gotta move in and gotta move out. So I think it's fun to have,

And I think we underestimate what they can do at a young age. They know. At five years old, they know what a chore is. They know how to do things, so we have them do a lot of stuff. That's fun. Yeah. All right.

Might be a long list, but where can people find you, some of your favorite investments, your book? Like where can they find your stuff? Oh my gosh. Well, you can find me on online, kimperell.com on any social handle. And you can find Junie at drinkjunie.com. You can find my great clean beauty product at kskin.com.

All the great investments. I mean, if you've got a great idea and you're looking for an amazing investor, then please reach out to me on either probably LinkedIn, since it's a professional network, would be ideal. But always looking for the next big idea. I know you too are, Dan. And my book. Yes. Oh, my gosh. Book at any place they sell books. You can buy it. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, you name it. This book will change your life.

All right, so make sure to check out Kim Pirelli across social media. As you guys know, over the years, it's been two years now, it's like 115-ish episodes, we have focused and kept this ad-free.

Because I want you to actually listen to the whole podcast. I want you to share it with your friends. I want you to be able to go back and listen to these episodes and really take in what you're learning from someone that's sold multiple companies, built multiple companies, invested in 150 companies. That's a rare thing to be able to do. There's not that many people on the planet that have done what she's done. And I want you to really grasp that. These are the type of podcast episodes you should be forwarding to your friends,

Have your staff, your family, people in your office, friends, past, present, and future, that you can share episodes like this to really understand business and really understand money because it's an important topic. We all grew up thinking it's rude to talk about money. I think that's ridiculous. We have to talk about accounting, finances, taxes, how to balance a checkbook. Should I borrow this money? Should I take a loan? Should I finance this? Should I get a credit card? Should I have three credit cards or one credit card? We don't talk about it because we think it's rude. We have to discuss these things. It is not rude.

Money is an important fuel and tool for our lives. So I want you to have discussions. Go to the moneymondays.com. Check out Kim Perel. And we'll see you guys next Monday.