In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

• How growing up in Whiteland, Indiana and going into public school after his parents’ divorce led to years of bullying, fighting, and eventually juvenile detention
• Why goal setting and processing what he could do differently led Dylan to a complete turn around in high school and beyond
• How his grandparents were examples of entrepreneurship and why working with his grandfather in his TV repair business was influential in his drive to work for money any way he could
• How a good idea sparked from the realization that there were devices that were not as easy to repair that could be a good business, like iPhones and iPods, and why that led to Dylan’s first company
• Why his time at Purdue to pursue engineering was actually short lived, and why he left school to focus on his growing business
• How he came up with the initial idea for BrüMate and why his first plan to sell his products in a local brewery ended up being a great success
• Why they were positioned uniquely in the drinkware space to benefit when brands like White Claw and Truly were growing in popularity
• What advice Dylan has for hiring and building a team, letting yourself dive in to building the business you’ve created, and why seeing feedback as constructive criticism that can help you move forward is imperative to not giving up

To Find Out More:‍

BruMate.com‍

Quotes:‍

“I understood that I was the reason this was happening to me and I understood where I went wrong and like what I'm doing to correct it. So that sort of signified what I call the new beginning.”

“From a pretty young age, I had the drive. I've always been super ADHD. I can't stop, can't sit still. So I've always got to be fidgeting or doing something.”

“My pipe dream as an entrepreneur was I wanted to be able to build and create something that I walk around and see people using.”

“We would basically start doing pre orders 30 days before the production would actually be leaving. We would use that to pay the 30 percent deposit. And then once the inventory would come in, we'd fully sell through it, and then pay the manufacturer.” 

“By 2018 White Claw, Truly, and all these other brands that were using slim cans were really booming, and we were the only brand in the world that had a solution for those.”

“If you're working with our brand, I want to make sure that you're coming, stepping into a role that they not only have the expertise with, but like they understand how to use that situationally for a brand like ours.”

“Be a little less concerned about how you be a leader for the people, but more of like how do you be a leader for the company? How do you drive the company forward and focus on what the future of the brand is going to be?” 

“When I actually took the dive and kind of jumped off into the deep end and said, "I can do this, I am going to do this, I have no other option but doing it." That was when things really changed for me.”

“You should be starting a company because you believe you can create value and value creates money and money generates wealth. There are steps in between.”

“The ones that do succeed are the ones that are able to look at it and go like, "Well, here's why it's not working and I'm going to change it to try and make it work. It's not a failure.’”

“I think the biggest thing that I've learned over the years is the ability to listen to feedback and not take it as criticism, but rather like try and pick out little things that can help me become better or help the company become better or products become better. That is how you see evolution of a brand, is the capability to listen.