I’ve been listening to the new(ish) Steve Jobs biography while driving in this crazy LA traffic lately and I feel like I had a bit of an epiphany. I’ve been an Apple fan for quite some time, since I got my first Macbook Pro back in 2005. (This same computer, believe it or not, is what lil bro Jordan uses now to create designs, seven years later. Talk about quality!)

What struck me while listening to Steve’s story was that while most of us remember him as an absolutely brilliant individual, he had a pretty long list of flaws as well. While listening to the history of a man I seriously respected, especially as an entrepreneur, I found myself (for a moment, anyway) thinking that maybe if I learned to be more brash and rude, I too could build a better brand. That’s when it hit me: I wonder how many people contemplate the same actions with the people they look up to? How many people do shady deals because someone they look up to did something on their rise to the top? How many people validate their ‘non-legit’ actions because their role model did something similar? Role models are a dangerous idea, but necessary at the same time. They show us that yes, our dreams can be achieved; they’re the living proof that it’s possible. The issue we have as a society is thinking that role models can do no wrong. Without having your own moral compass to guide you through the good and the bad, ‘doing it because so and so did’ is just not an excuse.

Man, that is incredibly important. Think about it: When you’re a freshman in high school, your top priority is trying to fit in, trying to be one of the cool guys. You look up to the seniors, but slowly start to realize their popularity is based completely on their grade level, nothing more. Growing up, I made the decision very early on that I would do whatever I thought was right, not base my decision off what other people were doing. To be completely honest, I’m still not sure why I was so adamant about that; I just didn’t like the feeling of doing something because everyone else was, especially when I had the gut feeling that it was wrong. Even though I played sports year round, the lifestyle most of my teammates led was just not me. I loved them all and still to this day would do anything I can to help them out, but our compasses just didn’t line up.

Middle/High school is one of the most influential times in our lives. It’s when we figure out what we’re interested in, what we believe, and what we’re willing to stand up for. In my opinion, it’s what really shapes us and defines who we become in the future. Most people would say college does that as well but I never went so I’ll leave that topic for someone else. When Jordan started high school last year, I told him the exact same thing I told Brandon when he started: The second you graduate, nobody cares about anything you did in high school. Do what you know is right every single time and you’ll come out on top, I guarantee it.As the oldest brother, I became a role model for my younger brothers, whether I wanted to or not. Have I messed up? Definitely, I’m far from perfect. Rather than use my mistakes as an excuse for poor behavior, they provided a great opportunity for my bros to learn 2nd hand and be so much further than me at the same age.

We all already subconsciously make these decisions in our relationships, don’t we? Girls look for guys that have all the good traits they see in their dad, while looking for the exact opposite of the bad ones. We look for people to date that have certain characteristics we’ve realized we like or don’t like, based on previous people we’ve dated. Sometimes we’re attracted to character flaws because that’s just what we’re used to, even though it’s not what we want. Either way, we’re making decisions based on individual things we like and don’t like. I think there’s room for everyone to grow using this simple concept; I know I have just from the short time I’ve had this realization.

So in that time I spent listening to Steve Jobs biography, I was tempted for a moment, before realizing that in reality, I could surpass him if I took only the good and left the bad. It’s my choice, there’s nobody saying I have to take it all, and that’s the beauty of it. Emulate the positive characteristics you see in people you look up to, ignore the flaws. Use your own compass and make decisions based on what you know is right and you’ll be so much happier for it.

Love you guys.
-jason

Man time really does fly when you’re having fun, doesn’t it?  This year is off to such an incredible start for us and it’s been amazing to see so many things happen. Tonight we’re launching a Strap (and a shirt!) that really ties into a big part of why I believe we’re continuing to grow at such a record pace and I couldn’t be more stoked. Rise + Grind has been a mantra for me since we first came up with the idea for our collectible little wristbands. If I’m not doing something to grow the second I wake up every morning, I’ll never see the results I want. How often we forget that too, right? It’s like I talked about before, the ‘borderline millionaire’ syndrome; the idea that something will happen tomorrow.

Grind also brings up a second meaning to me that I really love, straight out of the Good Book. Proverbs 27:17 – ‘As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.’ Every day, we have the ability to speak into the lives of others, ‘sharpening’ them and as we continue to sharpen ourselves. Remembering this has helped me so much out here in Los Angeles. Investing in others without expecting anything in return has helped me grow more than I could ever have imagined, and it’s just getting started.

If you’re like me, you probably skim the words to just look at pictures so here ya go. Our new Collegiate Straps are here and they are so legit. U of M is actually dropping next Thursday!

Lastly, we’ve been keeping ZOXBOX3 very under wraps as it’s dropping in 2 weeks now. Here’s a  picture of one of the 8 Straps dropping in two weeks.

Until next time!
-Jason

Can I start off by just saying how incredibly stoked I am that 2013 is now upon us? I remember at the end of 2011 saying this, and I think it’s a testament to doing what you love: This is going to be our best year yet. The amount of people we’ve met this past year was absolutely amazing, as was the things we’ve accomplished. We’ve got big goals for the coming year too, and I can tell you already we’re off to an phenomenal start after ending the year with Skrillex rocking out the Straps we made for him in Las Vegas.

One thing I’m a little nostalgic about is our beloved F&F blue envelopes being retired for our new galactic XOXO design. Dang they look good don’t they!?

Not trying to write too much today but I wanted to leave you with something my buddy Hank told me. He mentioned that he likes to ‘name’ his years. While your brain is not capable of projecting what you’ll want 6 months from now, you’re perfectly capable of pursuing the idea of what the year will mean to you.

So what’s one word you’d like to have describe these next 12 months for you? Fill in the blank: 2013 will be the year of _________ for me.

Happy new year!

-Jason

Man it’s been crazy lately, and I absolutely love it.  We’ve been incredibly blessed this past year and I’ve seen Zox Straps grow beyond anything we’d ever expected. On a personal level this year has been huge as well; safe to say it’s been the most life changing year to date. I wanted to reflect a bit on that before talking about 2013.

First off, I left the best job I’ve ever had to pursue Zox Straps full time. Pinnacle Cart‘s CEO Mike Auger was without a doubt the best boss I’ve worked for; he taught me so much in my time with the company and I’ll never forget him. The staff there was like a family to me as well, which made it harder than ever to leave. Here’s what Mike posted on the company blog when I resigned.

That huge change triggered the next one. I moved from beautiful Scottsdale, AZ back to my favorite city on earth, Los Angeles.

From here:

To here.

After being in the desert for four years, there’s just something amazing about being by the water again. To be honest I seriously just love the LA vibe, it’s straight up hustle non stop and I find myself addicted to it. I’ve been able to meet so many amazing people that are just like me. Folks with big hearts who are just driven to do something more with their lives; I love it.

We’ve also gotten to do some pretty cool collaborations this year. Some you may have seen and a few we’ve kept under wraps. Here’s one we did for Calvin Harris and the Wynn Hotel’s Surrender Nightclub.

We did these for a brand I love with an owner I have incredible respect for, Yo Esbensen’s ROGUE STATUS / DTA POSSE.

Here’s one we did for my man Proh and the guys at Far East Movement.

We also made Straps for all 16 countries in the 2012 Euro Cup. Some of the guys playing actually scored goals wearing them, so crazy!

So what’s next for us? 2012 was an amazing year full of one adventure after another. I’m hoping 2013 will be even more epic as we’ve got quite a few new projects on the way. Not only are our partnerships getting bigger, but we’re expanding our product line. Next up: Doubles -Double Wrap wristbands that are more narrow than the standard Straps and have already proven to be incredibly comfortable.

CROWN: Narrow elastic headbands. I’ve never had more messages on Facebook than I did after releasing this picture. I think they’ll do pretty well!

Last but definitely not least, sneakers.

Pretty exciting huh? I think so. What’s even crazier to me is that this all started with a simple idea sitting at a kitchen table. Who would have thought we’d be where we are now? I truly believe it’s something that’s come because of hard work and dedication, mixed with the help of so many absolutely amazing, selfless people that give of their time and resources without asking for anything in return. I’m continually humbled by all the love we receive, and I can’t thank you guys enough for making 2012 such an amazing journey for us.

Til next time!
Jason

With the election coming up soon, it’s interesting to hear both candidates and their views on small business. Both Governor Romney and President Obama are so incredibly passionate about the values of small business in our nation, and it’s not hard to see why. As a small business, we have to innovate to compete. We have to keep pushing the boundaries and create, constantly hustling in order to survive.

I love that.

Nothing pushes a nation forward more than people who are willing to hustle. I remember reading an article one time about a self made millionaire in the car scrapping business. He said he beat his competition because he never stopped working. He acknowledged that he wasn’t necessarily the smartest person, but he said something to the effect that it was very hard to compete with someone that never stopped. That reminded me of one of my very favorite words: Relentless. Webster’s dictionary defines relentless as ‘showing or promising no abatement of severity, intensity, strength, or pace’. I love it, the idea that you will never quit. You’ll never let the intensity fade or the pace slow. Lexus apparently loves this word too, as they have one of the best slogans I’ve ever heard from a luxury car brand: “The relentless pursuit of perfection.”

My question though is how many small business owners in the US today are actually relentless? How many of them fail and give up? How many never even start because the fear of failure cripples them? I think these are the people I’ve heard Mark Cuban refer to as ‘wantrapreneurs’. The people that love the idea of owning their own business, but want someone to lead the way for them; ie a job with the main perk being that you can call yourself a business owner.

We’ve all had friends that had a business card before they had a business. They’re usually the same ones working an hourly job with the title ‘CEO and President of XYZ Company’ as their ‘works at’ on Facebook. I understand the concept of ‘fake it til you make it’; appearance is extremely important when trying to build a business. What I’m nervous about is that I feel like we’ve become a society based on the lifestyle I’ve coined the ‘Borderline Millionaire.’

Let me explain.

There is a difference between being a talker and a doer. A doer is one that executes, a talker is one that talks so well about what they’re going to do that they believe it themselves. They get this mindset that “tomorrow I am going to accomplish these things, and I’ll be set for life.” Tomorrow comes, those things never come to fruition, and more things get added on to the next day’s list of things that will be accomplished. This is the incredibly tiring cycle of the Borderline Millionaire. I would estimate from people I’ve talked to personally that at least 95% of people that call themselves entrepreneurs fall into this category, with the remaining 5% being real doers.

I get upset when the people I mentor fall back into that 95%. While most people see the results (success) of the 5%, they never see the action it took for them to get there. They’ve never seen the blood, sweat and tears a real entrepreneur goes through as they chase relentlessly towards the pursuit of their passion. From what I’ve seen, the 95% are typically willing to spend more time validating why someone else is more successful than they are over actually working towards their own goals, and that’s unfortunate.

I speak fervently on the topic as I’ve been there before. I’ve seen moderate success; At 23 I had 3 homes, a Lamborghini and a Range Rover.  I’ve also seen complete failure; at 25 I lost everything I had from my poor choice in business partners. I remember  having less than $500 to my name and getting turned down for a job as a barista at Starbucks. I had no money for rent and had to ask friends for a lift to job interviews because I had no car. It was the most humbling time in my entire life. I went through what every potential entrepreneur considers the very worst possible outcome: losing it all.

As much as the memory of that time still stings, it was an eye opener for me. I now knew what it felt like to lose, and I wasn’t too worried. I still had my family, my friends, my health and my drive to do something great. It’s like that magnet your mom had on the fridge when you were growing up: “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” I think that’s what separates the real entrepreneurs, the successful business owners and the doers from the 95%; we aren’t afraid to fail. I hold nothing back, I push forward relentlessly to build something bigger than myself; something I am incredibly passionate about. Your failures should never define you, they’re simply rungs on a ladder you use for a moment before climbing above them. Learn from them, appreciate them for what they are and move on. I’ve used my failures as valuable lessons I can teach my younger brothers, in hopes that one day they’ll grow up to be so much better than me. My job as the Big Bro will be complete, and that makes me smile.

In almost every story of successful entrepreneurs I can think of, failure helped shape them into becoming the resilient, relentless person they later became.  I’ll leave you with one of my very favorite quotes that I hope will encourage you to take that step and be the 5% that go for it.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
- Theodore Roosevelt

Until next time,
Jason

Man, we’ve seriously been having a blast these past few weeks. Brandon has really started pushing out some amazing new designs, Jordan is trying to become an Instagram celebrity and I’m flying all over trying to make things happen. It’s made me think a lot about how I manage my time, the most valuable commodity I have. This quote says it perfectly:
“The common man is not concerned about the passage of time, the man of talent is driven by it.” -Shoppenhauer
It’s interesting, because when we’re young, all we want is to be older. Old is cool; old is able to drive and stay up late. When we turn 16 we only think about how we want to be 18 so we can be done with school. At 18 we want to be 21 because that’s apparently when you become a grown up. If you’re like most people, you probably are spending the majority of that time working like crazy as well, trying to save up for down payment on a new car, paying for your expensive (“but totally worth it, the location is legit bro!”) apartment, and other random stuff like car stereos, sweet TVs, sound systems, etc. (Sorry, I’m not sure what girls save up for. Dresses and shoes?)

I’ve been there. When I was 14, I worked every second I could at Burger King so I could save up for my first car. I wanted a Camaro so freaking bad and my parents refused to help, fueling my drive even more. I’d work every second I could there, then mow lawns, rake leaves and even shovel snow in that unfortunate season known as winter in Michigan.
Now let me be the first to say that drive is something that will get you further than you will ever know. If you can learn to mix drive with determination and execution, you’ll be successful; no question about it. My concern though is how we think about time. Want to know how you value yours? Look at your paycheck! If you’re on hourly, it’s pretty easy to see. Salary folks can take that amount and divide it by the REAL number of hours you worked that week, not the standard 40 as we all know employers want you to stay late to justify that ‘crazy’ cash you’re making.

My first realization on the value of my time happened when I was 20. I had to get up at 3 in the morning to go load the brown delivery trucks at UPS. I was one of the lucky ones that was on- call, meaning I only came in if they were short handed. This lead to a ridiculous sleep schedule of which I’d go to bed early, wake up at 3am either way, then go back to sleep for a few hours if I didn’t get called in. I still remember one night, waking up under my cozy down comforter while it snowed outside. My room had horrible insulation and I knew that the second I got up I’d be freezing. Funny how beds get so much more comfortable right before you have to get up, isn’t it!? As I laid in bed waiting for my phone to ring, I thought about it. After taxes I was going to make about $30 for getting out of my warm bed and working for 4 hours. It was at that point that I realized that I would rather pay $30 to stay in bed. I didn’t care about the money, I just wanted to do what I felt like doing.

This realization has been with me ever since, and it’s something I think about all the time, especially when I’m at work. It always bothered me to know that my time was worth whatever my employer felt was legit. It sort of feels like someone is putting a value on you as a human. Last time I checked I feel like my life is worht a bazillion dollars, so breaking that down by hour always left me very far from enthused.

So we’ve established that time is valuable because you trade it for money, but what else? Well, the most obvious is going to be that time is very finite; you can not earn/buy more. Even the richest men on earth still run out of time, that’s a fact of life. My belief is that at the point where you are about to die, you never look back on how your money was spent, you look back at what you did; how you really used your time.

If you’re from the midwest, this analogy will make sense for you very well. Think about the first time you experienced a snow day. The feeling of waking up, eagerly listening to the radio for them to list off your school as one that was canceled. The second your school was called, you felt a rush because you knew that for that one day, you had complete freedom. Your time was your own, and you could do with it whatever you wanted. As an adult, I try to carry that exact same mindset into every single day of my life. I wake up knowing that this day is mine and I’m going to make every minute of it count.

Hope that helps.

-Jason

I remember when Brandon first came out to AZ for a for a few months to work on Zox Straps with me. We put up a massive whiteboard on the wall and drew a timeline for where we expected to be within the next year. It was a fun exercise but the reality is that we had no basis for any of our projections, other than “well there are this many people in the world, and if we can just get X amount of them to know about Zox Straps…” hahaha. Ok it wasn’t quite that bad, but I feel like that’s pretty close.

In the business classes I took in high school, we had to create a business plan for a company we’d like to start someday. My friends and I decided to team up and do one called “The King of Clubs,” a pun on playing cards and a nightclub. I don’t remember much about it other than it was a horrible idea and our references for costs and revenue were totally bogus. Don’t get me wrong, the business plan was legit and we crushed it in our presentation, it just wasn’t applicable to what I call ‘real world conditions.’

Real world conditions (lets call it RWC for short) is what creates the difference between what we plan on having happen in a business plan and what actually happens. It’s not necessarily all doom and gloom either, RWC is an X factor. It ranges from people just straight up not liking what you’re doing to a chance encounter with someone that changes the entire direction of your business. I can think of one friend in particular that started his now very successful business randomly meeting someone at a restaurant. I can also think of another friend who released a product he was sure would be successful that immediately bombed because the market just wasn’t ready for it yet.

So lets say you’re in a job, but for any number of reasons it’s just not where you want to be; It’s not something you enjoy, it takes up all your time, stresses you out, doesn’t pay you what your time is worth, has no room for advancement, etc etc… (Can you tell I don’t like having a job? lol) How can you plan your new entrepreneurial endeavor without risking everything, especially with something like RWC that you simply can’t control? Here’s a few things I’ve learned along the way with Zox Straps that will hopefully help you out.

1. Self fund, slowly.
There is nothing wrong with testing out what you’re trying to do before you go and spend every last dollar trying to make it work. When we first started with Zox Straps, our cost was just that of some elastic, paint markers, thread and most importantly, our time. We all had jobs, so there was never any decisions made because money was tight. We took our time, planned out what we wanted to do and grew with the brand. Yes, some start ups might require huge sums of money for R&D, programming, etc.. If that’s the case and you really think your idea has legs, then go the route of looking for investors. My personal feeling is that I’d rather work hard and invest my own money than have the uneasy feeling of knowing I’m playing with someone else’s. Like I learned when I was trying to buy my first car – you appreciate things so much more when you worked for them and did it yourself. Side note If you don’t have enough in your savings to support yourself while you invest your time, you should not be a full time entrepreneur. Someone that raises money and uses it as a salary is an employee, not an entrepreneur.

2. If you don’t love it, don’t do it.
I’ve gotten some feedback from our packaging with the ‘Do what you love’ terminology. Yes, I’ve seen the research that says many people find running with something they thought they loved was a horrible idea. Yes, I’ve heard most people can’t make a living playing video games or shopping. To me, it means this: If you don’t love what you’re currently doing, don’t keep doing it. You’ve all seen the stickers on your motivational friend’s fridge; the one that says ‘Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.’ It’s freakin’ true! Why is it so easy to preach, yet so hard to do ourselves? My opinion is that we’ve become very complacent; if it’s not too bad, we’ll stick it out. My opinion is that if you don’t wake up stoked to accomplish something new, you need to keep looking.

3. Nobody wants you to succeed more than you.
I can’t even begin to tell you how many people I hear saying the same thing every day. When I ask them how they’re project is going, they always seem to have someone else that they’re waiting on for something to move forward. I’m sure if you think about yourself, you’re guilty just like I am. I remember when we first decided to really run with Zox Straps, one of our friends was going to build the site for us. He’s honestly one of the best designers I’ve ever seen, not to mention a super humble, all around great dude. Long story short, he was so busy with other projects that our site continued to get put off. After six months, I got frustrated and came to the realization that even people with the best intentions don’t have the same desire for me to succeed that I do. I sat up that entire night with Brandon learning how to use WordPress, creating the site you’re using right now in about 18 hours. An interesting note is that this all night site-building fest also led us to come up with the idea for Night Owl, one of our most popular Straps ever.

Stop making excuses. If people don’t answer an email, call them. If someone can’t get something you need done in time, find someone else or learn to do it yourself. Don’t rush from a quality perspective (ie. cutting corners on quality), but get it done. The life of an entrepreneur might seem glamorous from the outside, but remember that every time you see a successful business owner, you’re seeing the result, not the process; the blood, sweat and tears they went through to get to that point you see them at now. If you want the rewards, roll up those sleeves and get started.

Remember this: Every day you say tomorrow is another day you wake up in the exact same place you were yesterday.

Hope that helps!
-Jason

It’s so cool to see how far Zox Straps has come even in the past 8 months, and how people try to explain what they are. Some call them elastic wristbands, others call them stretchy bands, stretchy bracelets, etc. This reminded me of how Brandon and I first explained them to people when we were sitting at this restaurant here in AZ. A girl came up and asked what the story was with my wristband. I told her about how they were collectible (even though all we had at that point was F&F), and how it was more than just a bracelet, it was a movement. Don’t get me wrong, there was no slick talking here; I stumbled through almost the entire explanation, using the words ‘like’ and ‘you know’ at least 20 times.

That’s the interesting thing about starting something completely from scratch: your brand grows and your story is refined. You meet other people that appreciate what you do and the brand grows because they tell your story better than you could to begin with. More people follow, tell your story and start to make it their own. Twitter is the perfect example of this; the users wrote the rules, incorporating the hashtag and @ symbols to do different things. That’s really the way I see Zox Straps heading as well, and I love it. We’ve evolved so much and I really believe it’s because we let our fans guide us as to what’s next. The VIP and Gold groups are serious treasure troves of amazing ideas just waiting to be chosen and we have a blast going through, talking with fans and making their ideas a reality. Bespoke was based of their ideas, as was the ZOXBOX; both of which sold out almost instantly.

When Zox Straps grows up, I want it to be the type of brand people can’t stop smiling about because they remember the time when they pitched in and created a design, spread the word or even bought one of our first Straps. I think about brands I really admire; I would be flipping out now if I had been there when they started, knowing that I had a part in their success. I mean seriously, how cool is that?

I can also tell you first hand just from the taste I’ve gotten of growth that it’s an absolutely epic feeling to see people digging what you do. To have people you’ve looked up to get behind what your doing and support you. I really feel like our story continues to be written, and it’s only getting better.

I’m gonna start to write in here more often. So much to say, I wonder if it’d be easier to ‘vlog’ as they say lol!

Til next time!
Jason

I read an article by Mark Cuban recently that really made me think. He said (paraphrasing) we’re told to follow our passion, but what we really should be doing is following our effort. How true is that!? It’s funny, as Zox Straps continues to grow, we spend more and more time making every little piece of it something we can be proud of, and I can’t think of even one time where I’ve been “sick of working” on Zox Straps. It’s the kind of project that keeps me interested and has my effort daily because it has every piece that makes me happy.

- My ‘work’ varies every single day. No two Straps are ever the same, and neither are any two partners we work with. Being able to consistently work with new people that have a serious love for what they do gets me amped. Seeing so many people take what we’ve created and make it their own is one of the coolest things I have ever experienced.

- The brand continues to evolve. I remember when I first sat down and started making these. Was it weird to see a bald, 6’6″ dude walking through JoAnn Fabric to buy some elastic? Probably. But I had an urge to just try and make something, so I went with it. Seeing the brand go from what it was when I sat at my kitchen table painting this first one to what it’s become now motivates me to push it even further. I think we all enjoy taking something past the limits we thought were possible. It’s that moment when you realize you really can accomplish just about anything you set your mind on.

- It helps others. All three of us talked about this from the very beginning. When we first started, lots of people thought Zox Straps was just a simple wristband with no point. The truth is, the product itself is a simple wristband, but that’s just our vehicle for our real goal: A brand with a voice. The ‘SOS!’ Strap we did for Spencer, Jarod and Caleb is the perfect example of this; In just a few days, we raised over $20,000 for their families. Zox Straps was used as a voice to bring attention to a cause that needed it so badly, and it did it with perfection.

- It’s interactive on a whole new level. All three of the brothers interact with our customers daily and we absolutely love it. As a small brand, we love to take advantage of the fact that we can use customers ideas and implement them immediately. Not only that, we dedicate time to discuss new ideas not only for Zox Straps, but for our customers business ventures. There’s something to be said about having people around you to lift you up and guide you as you navigate this insanely hard path they call the ‘life on an entrepreneur.’

In closing, I’d say Mr. Cuban hit it dead on. Figure out what you put all your efforts towards, and go after it. The hardest part of getting started is taking the first step. I’d encourage you to take a look at things from a different perspective; chances are you’ve already taken that first step and you didn’t even know it!