Brett Fellows: Geison Moura, Welcome to The Retiring Entrepreneur Podcast. We’re excited to have you today.
Geison Moura: Thanks for having me.
Brett Fellows: We were introduced by our mutual friend, Mr. Andre Berenson, who was also on this podcast. And I was excited that he made the recommendation or introduction to you, because I’m convinced, I tried to pull this out of Andre, but the relationship between professional athletes and then becoming entrepreneurs, I mean, I definitely think there’s something attached there. Whether because you’ve always relied on your ability to perform in your sport, and now it’s the same thing, you’re relying on your ability to perform in business. So, I love that correlation between the 2. So, I was excited to have you on our podcast today. And I think you’re the first podcast guests we had that has a Wikipedia page. So, that was fun.
Geison Moura: That’s awesome. Yeah.
Brett Fellows: So, your business is called Stimulus Athletic. But I want to kind of back up from there. Tell me how you got to where you are today. What’s been your journey?
Geison Moura: Oh, it’s been quite the journey. With Stimulus started right after I… actually, a year before I retired. So, I was already at my last year of playing, thinking what would be my next chapter? And since I was involved in a game for so long, and playing with so many people, I wanted to do something in the sport, but not just the coaching, which is a normal and good path.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: Wanted to do something a little different. And there was a day I was coaching at a high school game. I saw everybody wearing the same uniform, and the coach had the same Adidas uniform for many years, and nothing special. And I was like, “There’s something there for us to create something cool, something custom, and affordable.” So, I started thinking about those ideas and put it together. And my friend, Andre, was our first customer.
Brett Fellows: Okay.
Geison Moura: I didn’t have anything lined up. I didn’t have a factory lined up at anything. He was like, “Hey, if you build it, I’ll buy it.”
Brett Fellows: Right.
Geison Moura: And thanks to him, I started the company.
Brett Fellows: That’s great. And so, professional soccer. You played how many years did you play professional?
Geison Moura: I’m 11 years.
Brett Fellows: Wow.
Geison Moura: Yep, played 11 years.
Brett Fellows: And how was that experience? Was it everything you thought it would be as a kid dreaming of becoming a professional soccer player? Was it more difficult? I can’t imagine going from team to team and contracts and getting let go and then signing on. That is an amazing thing for your psyche to go through.
Geison Moura: Yeah, looking back. It was just like life, all about the seasons, right? So, I had great summer seasons. I had winters. So, I was able to play in front of 85,000 people in Malaysia.
Brett Fellows: Wow.
Geison Moura: Which is something I never thought I was going to be able to do, or play in front of my family watched the live game members do and I was playing here in the US. So, they’re all watching on TV live stream. So, those are some great things that happened to me. But also, like you said, got let go a few times and had some challenges with clubs not being able to pay the full salary at some point. So, things like that definitely contributed to the ups and downs of any athlete.
[06:39] The life lesson Geison Moura learned as a professional athlete that has fueled the culture of Stimulus Athletics.
Brett Fellows: Right. I guess if I could ask, what’s the one life lesson you took away or learned from being a professional athlete?
Geison Moura: One life lesson. I would say is be good to people. Be good to people. So, think that you’re not just yourself today. It’s yourself today in 5 years, in 10 years. And the reason why I say that is, if you think about yourself just right now, you might have a short-term gain trying to be better than somebody or not treating somebody right. But in the long run, that had benefit me. Because a lot of my friends now are my customers.
Brett Fellows: Yes.
Geison Moura: You know what I’m saying? They buy the uniforms from me. So, I would say that that was something that I learned early on, it’s like just be good to everybody, be good to people, and that will pay off.
Brett Fellows: Yeah. That’s great. And so, what year was that, Geison (if you said it, forgive me), when you stopped playing professionally and you made that transition, or started thinking about Stimulus? What year was that?
Geison Moura: 2016.
Brett Fellows: 2016. Okay. And so, how long from when you stopped playing ‘til you came, you actually opened the doors for Stimulus?
Geison Moura: It was at the end of 2016. And we started selling, yeah, in 2017.
Brett Fellows: Okay, great.
Geison Moura: Yeah. I only had Andre in 2016. End of the year. But yeah, pretty much from 2017 to now.
Brett Fellows: Was that scary going in, thinking, “Oh, my God, I’m going to start this business. I don’t know if it’s going to work,”? Tell me, what were some of your thoughts going through that?
Geison Moura: That’s, that’s a good question. I feel like by playing sports, we’ve always in that situation. So, we move teams. We go to different countries. And that changing of environment is something that we’re exposed constantly. And I think that helped me with jumping from playing soccer to now, hey, I’m starting this business.
Brett Fellows: Right.
Geison Moura: And I think by playing sports, that helps. Because to play sport, you have to have a thick skin, right?
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: You know you’re going to, at some point, get rejected by the coach, or by the fans at some point, and you just get used to that. And I feel like, a lot of people don’t start a business, or don’t pursue something that they are passionate about because they’re afraid of getting burned, or to getting judged. And I feel like sports have helped me with that.
[09:27] How Geison Moura assembled his small business A-Team.
Brett Fellows: Yes, I bet. I agree completely. And Geison, the design and the uniform, so you said, “I think there’s got to be a cooler way we can do this and make it affordable.” Naturally, do you have a design eye? Or no, you don’t know anything about that or anything, but you’re going to find the people that can do it?
Geison Moura: Yes, I’m terrible at design, right? I’m good at recognizing what my work here and there.
Brett Fellows: Right.
Geison Moura: But when it comes down to the details, no. I’m not a detail-oriented person, not a designer. But I figured out patterns, right?
Brett Fellows: Okay.
Geison Moura: So, I was like, “Maybe this will work here.” And it came down to finding the right people. I have a design manager that is unbelievable. And he’s amazing. And yeah, just finding the right people that are really good at something was a big thing for me.
Brett Fellows: Right. And how do you find those people? Like, so how do you find a designer? How do you find a manufacturer? I mean, you just Google it and just start picking away?
Geison Moura: So, the manufacturer, I did Google it. But the designer was a friend that I played with. He really… he was retired for a while, and he was in business. And I was like, “Hey, I’m starting this company.” He brought me in with his resources and his peace team. And he’s like, “I’m going to introduce you to a designer that I know.” So, it was through, like I was saying at the beginning of the conversation, the relationship have helped me to get there. But yeah, with the factory was a lot of, “Hey, can order a sample?” and Google.
Brett Fellows: Okay.
Geison Moura: And getting things from different places and getting it out there.
Brett Fellows: Okay. And so, your first iteration of Stimulus was for custom design of uniforms for teams?
Geison Moura: Correct.
Brett Fellows: And is it like any type? Is it mostly for soccer? I know it started that way, but can other teams get stuff as well?
Geison Moura: Yes, yes. We started with soccer because obviously, I knew a lot of people in the game. And then right after, we started working with Ultimate Frisbee teams.
Brett Fellows: Okay.
Geison Moura: Which it’s like, it’s so cool. The game is so cool. I love the Ultimate community. And yeah, we’ve become like one of the biggest brands here in Minnesota. Every high school wears…
Brett Fellows: That’s wild.
Geison Moura: … Stimulus for Ultimate Frisbee. And yeah, we’re starting to push for basketball, baseball, volley. Yeah, we’re branching out to different sports.
[12:07] Geison’s advice for anyone who wants to start a business, especially in retail.
Brett Fellows: That’s great. So, bring someone who knows nothing about retail up to speed. Did you have to buy inventory and then go from there? Is this kind of just go per custom order, you buy it as you go along, and then ship it right, turn around right out so you’re not sitting on a lot of inventory?
Geison Moura: Yeah, it’s a great question. And if I have to give an advice for people that want to start a business, I would tell them to do very similar to what I did. Which was I found a customer, I work with a design. There’s no cost on that. I just started designing. Then I went to my factory and I say, “Hey, here’s an order.” I take the money from the customer, I pay for the for the order, deliver, keep a little bit of the profit, and then kept growing. Now we have inventory with our workout line. Now we have an office, we have things. But for 3 to 4 years, that was the business model, “I’ll design something for you for free. If you like it, give me the money. I’m going to go I find the factory, I make it. Here’s the money.”
Brett Fellows: Okay.
Geison Moura: So, as of today, we have… last year, we’re close to a million dollars in sales, and I never took out a loan.
Brett Fellows: Wow.
Geison Moura: So, yeah, yeah, that was that was a model that worked.
Brett Fellows: That’s great.
Geison Moura: So, that would be my advice for people starting out.
Brett Fellows: And it is all web driven, yes? I mean, it’s all based off of your website. Correct?
Geison Moura: Yeah.
Brett Fellows: That’s amazing. Good for you. That’s fantastic. And what does it look like today? You mentioned you have inventory, you have office. Do you have a team? How big is your team now? Or when did it go from just Geison to building a team?
Geison Moura: We do have a team. We have probably 10 people working directly with us. We have an office here in downtown Minneapolis. We’re starting to do our fulfillment from here in Minneapolis. So, when customers order in bulk, like a high school coach order everything, we shipped directly from our factory.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: But when it’s youth club that the parents want their stuff at their house, everything shipped to us here, we pack and then ship directly to those customers. So, yeah, now we have that infrastructure in place here. But started very small. Like you said, it was just me and going to the Western Union to wire money to the athletes overseas. And yeah, kind of crazy.
Brett Fellows: And are these 10, are they employees, 1099 contractors? How do they work with you?
Geison Moura: A lot of them are 1099, yeah, contractors. Yes. So, people have… so, I have a soccer mom that works with us. And she loves the brand and the uniforms. She’s got another job, but that’s her. She says it’s her passion to sell uniforms.
Brett Fellows: Right.
Geison Moura: We believe her. So, yeah, we have all type of people working with us.
Brett Fellows: And are you the rainmaker, for lack of a better word? Are you the one that’s getting the new business? Are you the only one out there promoting? Or do you even have salespeople as well now?
Geison Moura: So, we partner with the school here in Minneapolis, at college, North Central College, and the students are helping out with the marketing and branding and all that?
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: So, I have a great relationship. Our office is in the in campus here. So, yeah, we have a lot of the students helping us with that side of the business.
Brett Fellows: Great. What’s a typical day look like for you?
Geison Moura: It depends, I try to divide the week. And so, Monday, I do anything that is related to fulfillment and ordering process. On Tuesday, I try to do marketing. Wednesdays is sales. On Thursdays is finance, which yeah, this morning, it’s just like invoices and all that. So, I have to try to structure my day like that.
Brett Fellows: Gotcha.
Geison Moura: And part of the challenge that I had was, one, to learn the business in the industry, but to learn how to organize myself.
Brett Fellows: I bet.
Geison Moura: Because I didn’t go to college. I didn’t have that experience. So, just playing soccer for 10 years didn’t teach me how to, “Hey, you got to get focused, and you got to structure your day and use your calendar, your Google Calendar,” and all that. So, that was part of learning the business and how to become a businessperson, right?
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: So, yeah, that’s how pretty much I structure my day. I have certain things that I do on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Brett Fellows: Yeah, if you could delegate one of those things, what would you get rid of first?
Geison Moura: The finance.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: Anything related to numbers and invoicing and checks and, yeah.
[17:16] Why Geison believes staying focused early on helped Stimulus later expand into international markets.
Brett Fellows: Yeah, I bet. And you mentioned it, and I think I saw on your website too. So, do you have international teams too?
Geison Moura: Yes, yeah.
Brett Fellows: So, I can imagine, not just the shipping, but the invoicing and the payments for them and anything overseas is going to be different than in the US.
Geison Moura: Yes. That would be another advice for starting entrepreneurs. Just focus on the US market until you’re capitalizing. Because now, we have great customers in Canada. I love working with them. But we have customers in Singapore, but how do you invoice those? Is that in Singapore dollars, in American dollars? Then it’s it becomes all the tax legal stuff that gets very complicated.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: But yeah, those are some challenges that I would probably avoid if I would start over.
Brett Fellows: Yeah, yeah.
Geison Moura: Yeah.
Brett Fellows: What makes you so unique? I mean, obviously in your area, I could see how you’re the person to go to. But what makes you guys so unique? Like the whole design part up front, you can custom design your uniforms, that sort of thing, is that what’s most sets you apart?
Geison Moura: Yes, that’s one, the ability to customize your own uniform, combined with the pricing. So, I try to keep our pricing very competitive, so people in clubs can afford to maybe up a little bit the price in fundraising, and having as fundraising for them, so they can pay coaches, they can rent viewed. So, that’s something that our clubs have had the ability to do it, because we’re very low compared to other brands. But I’m really big in the quality. So, all of our stuff it’s high quality. I don’t compromise on that because of pricing. So, that combination between pricing, customization, and quality has been the differentiator.
Brett Fellows: Right. And when you spend that day, the finances, or when you look at your numbers, do you have like indicators or key performance things you look at, like tracking sales or units sold, or profit margins? What’s the first thing you like to look at? How do you measure your success?
Geison Moura: That’s a good question. I’ve only looked at the numbers at the end of the year, which is not good. At the end of the year, go deep into how many we sold. What I’ve done for the most part is, so I read a book called Profit First.
Brett Fellows: Yes, love it.
Geison Moura: A while ago. And you just allocate the money as it comes in.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: So, after I read that book, I started taking the salary. So, that goes in, putting money toward stacks, putting money towards paying the staff, and just having different bank accounts for that.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: That way, I know that whatever shows in a P&L, it’s not true, we have the money, right?
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: Right? And sometimes that can be deceiving. So, that’s how I’ve been able to, yeah, being profitable every year, paying the bills and being, yeah, getting [inaudible]
Brett Fellows: And how long was it until you were able to pay yourself? Was there a while where you just you couldn’t even…? I mean, obviously the first few months is probably difficult, but was it even in the first year?
Geison Moura: So, it was, even in the first year, was able to take money at the end of the year.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: But what I used to do for the first 4 years was, at the end of the year, whatever we had a profit, I would take a chunk of it.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: And then the cash flow in the business would get really low.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: So, instead of doing that, that’s something I learned in the books.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: If you’re going to milk a cow, you don’t want to just kill the cow and then take all the milk out.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: You’re going to milk every month.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: So, that’s what I did.
Brett Fellows: Good for you. Interesting enough, that’s one of the most gifted books I’ve ever given is Profit First. That’s one of my favorites.
Geison Moura: Yeah.
Brett Fellows: Make sure to have the… do you do the fun account where you give yourself 1 or 2 or 3%? And you get to spend it on anything?
Geison Moura: No, I don’t have that. But that’s a good reminder.
Brett Fellows: You, got to get you on that one.
Geison Moura: Yeah.
Brett Fellows: You mentioned you’re married. So, tell me, were you married when you started this business?
Geison Moura: Yes, yes.
Brett Fellows: And how has she been through all this? Was there a point in time where she’s like, “Geison, is this going to work? Is this not going to work?” Has she been your rock? Tell me about.
Geison Moura: She has been, and my wife, she does anesthesia. So, she puts people to sleep.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: She’s very well-educated, and she’s got her life. Everything was great. So, for me, I was like, when I started the business, it was a lot of pressure to show her that this was going to be something good.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: Something good. And I feel like a lot of what I’ve been doing was to, hey, to show her, “This is a good thing. This is working.” And after in the beginning, she didn’t believe it. And she even says that, she’s like, “I don’t think this was going to go anywhere.” But yeah, after I started filling up the house with boxes, and there was jerseys everywhere, and she’s like, “Maybe there is something here.”
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: So, yeah, things started working from there, and she’s, yeah, now, she believes it.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: Which was a good thing. It was a good thing.
Brett Fellows: So, just like mastery in your sport of soccer, the amount of hours you spent practicing your trade, do you get to spend time working on your business as opposed to working in your business?
Geison Moura: That’s a daily battle.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: That’s a daily battle that I think, once we are aware of what you’re working on, is that on the business or in the business, that’s helpful. But man, it’s really hard. You want to reply to that email of the jersey that hasn’t arrived, and you want to do this and that, and get away from working on the business. So, yeah, it’s I’m trying as much as I can to have that bird’s eye view and work on the business.
Brett Fellows: Sure, sure.
Geison Moura: Yeah. Hard to let go, man.
Brett Fellows: Yes, it is.
Geison Moura: You just know so much about your own business that you want to have your hands on everything. Yeah.
Brett Fellows: Yeah. But also, not to use the corny analogy, but you have had teammates and you’re in soccer. So, you’ve seen what a team can do.
Geison Moura: Yeah.
Brett Fellows: So, trying to create that team of A players around you, you could do the things that you’re best at and delegate the rest. That’s obviously the goal for all of us, but it is very hard to let go. Absolutely.
Geison Moura: Very hard. Very hard.
Brett Fellows: And what does it look like, Geison? If it’s 5 years from today and we’re sitting here talking, what has to have happened for you to feel happy with the progress of Stimulus?
Geison Moura: Honestly, because we started from nothing and we are where we are today, if we make very little progress every year, I’m already going to be happy.
Brett Fellows: Okay.
Geison Moura: Yeah, this has been an incredible jersey. We have one of our youth clubs here, they got a sponsorship with Shields, that sportswear company. And they’re going to carry our stuff on their store. So, I can never imagine that we would be on a big box store like that.
Brett Fellows: Right, right.
Geison Moura: So, yeah, I mean, I’m just celebrating every day, every victory that we have.
Brett Fellows: That’s great.
Geison Moura: Yeah. So, in 5 years, I don’t know. I don’t know. I think, yeah, I think if we continue to grow, that would be great.
Brett Fellows: Okay.
Geison Moura: I’m happy with where we are.
[25:44] How Geison recharges himself to avoid burnout.
Brett Fellows: With that, Geison, what do you do to avoid burnout? I mean, how do you recharge yourself?
Geison Moura: I feel like I have to make myself do other things. I feel like I have to make myself to spend time with friends. And because I tell my friends, I’m either working or working out.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: Those are the things I like to do. And I love that my wife is into working out as well, so that’s when I spend time with her.
Brett Fellows: Okay.
Geison Moura: So, we go to the gym together. That’s our time together.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: But yeah, I just love what I do. I love running a business.
Brett Fellows: Yeah. If you could look back to Geison from 5 years ago, what would you tell that Geison knowing what you know today?
Geison Moura: Find experts on something you’re trying to learn. Just cut down the time and just find experts in something you’re trying to learn and excel. Yeah. That would be something. I tried to do my own website, and obviously, when you’re starting, you don’t have the funds and you don’t have… but like I was saying, instead of you building your own website or doing your own finances, if you have a little bit of resources, just find the experts.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: So, you don’t waste too much time in the things that can be done by an expert, and save time.
Brett Fellows: Yeah. And how about your people skills, do you like leading? So, you now have a team of 10, even though they might be independent contractors, but you’re the heart and soul of it. You have to quarterback that whole thing.
Geison Moura: Yeah.
Brett Fellows: So, your people skills obviously come into play.
Geison Moura: Yeah.
Brett Fellows: And that takes away time and energy from maybe you doing some other things and managing those 10 people. What have you learned most about that?
Geison Moura: I feel like if I have to say what’s my best quality is that.
Brett Fellows: Okay. So, I really love being with people, interacting with people, hopefully inspiring people. So, that would be my thing. If I can change that for anything related to numbers, that would be good. So, I don’t know if you’ve read this one, I’m going to throw you another book called The Rocket Ship, that you have the visionary and the integrator, the person that goes out and do the stuff and really get to the end.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: And the visionary, the people person.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: So, that would be me, the designer.
Brett Fellows: I picture you as the visionary.
Geison Moura: Exactly, not the integrator.
Brett Fellows: So, maybe, like I was asking, 5 years down the road, do you foresee maybe having someone that could be your integrator, so you don’t have to do that sort of stuff?
Geison Moura: Yeah. Which, right now, I’m working with our head designer, which he is that person for me right now. So, any project that I have that it’s a difficult technical project, he helped me to get that across the finish line.
Brett Fellows: Right.
Geison Moura: So, he’s somebody that I’m really lucky to have found him.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: And he has helped me with most of our projects.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: Yeah. If it was just for me, just the idea guys and the relationship, and we would be running 3 different businesses, and yeah.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: So, he helps me to stay focus.
Brett Fellows: Great. Hey, you mentioned your website. Tell me about technology in your world. I mean, it always seems like the website we set up and the systems we set up, it’s out of date within 6 months or so.
Geison Moura: Yeah.
Brett Fellows: So, it seems. How do you stay on top of all that of what your website can do and can’t do and payments and everything?
Geison Moura: Yeah. Well, for website, I learned that it depends on your industry. There’s some great, great websites out there. For us, now we switched from Wix to Shopify.
Brett Fellows: Okay.
Geison Moura: Because we’re switching from an online ordering system to having Shopify and people going straight to our own website, and we create their stores, instead of having a third-party company taking all our clients to their website so they can order their uniforms.
Brett Fellows: Right.
Geison Moura: So, we want traffic on our website. And to do that, I have to implement different systems within Shopify. And they’re great with small apps that you can do pre order, you can do tracking. It’s super great. But if you’re a business that you just want people to learn about your service, Squarespace is phenomenal.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: Wix is great.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: If you’re not a retail, online retail business.
Brett Fellows: Right.
Geison Moura: So, I think with that, yeah, it depends on what kind of business you’re running.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: Yeah.
[31:00] The low point that prompted Geison Moura to look closer at process and logistics to improve the customer experience and reduce costly mistakes.
Brett Fellows: Yeah. What was the low point for you?
Geison Moura: The low point. I’ll tell you, what’s the low point, that’s an easy question. Three years ago, we were switching from one of these ordering systems to another one, and my factory was switching locations.
Brett Fellows: Okay.
Geison Moura: So, they were going to a new factory. Everything was a huge mess. Everything was a huge mess. And we had 2 big clubs with over 100 players ordering their stuff. And literally, half of what the order came out wrong. Customers calling. I had a guy coming to my house to pick up a box, and I hand delivered the box to him with the wrong items. And a list of things that were wrong. He goes home, he calls me and he says the words that everybody in my team knows those words. He goes, “To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement.”
Brett Fellows: Uh-oh.
Geison Moura: And that just got tattooed in my mind.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: That was a really low point. So, I got on a plane, I flew to my factory, talked to them, figured out the logistics. On my way back, I spent 9 hours a week on a plane, figuring out how I could break down the process in a way that, if something would go wrong, it wouldn’t mess up with 130 people.
Brett Fellows: Right.
Geison Moura: So, I figured out that process. And from there, we had very minimum mistakes. But that was a low point when I talked to the customer on the phone and he said those words to me. I’m like, “Man, that hurts.”
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: People say you shouldn’t take it personal when it’s a business thing.
Brett Fellows: Right.
Geison Moura: But there’s no way you can disassociate yourself from the business.
Brett Fellows: Yeah. That’s going to be so hard when you rely on the manufacturer. And do they do the printing as well?
Geison Moura: Yes.
Brett Fellows: Is that all done in one place, or does it have to go to…? Okay.
Geison Moura: In on place, yes.
Brett Fellows: Yeah. So, when you’re relying on them and their quality, and it’s kind of out of your hands, but you have to trust that it’s going to be okay.
Geison Moura: Yes.
Brett Fellows: When it’s not, they go to you first.
Geison Moura: Exactly.
Brett Fellows: That’s got to be difficult.
Geison Moura: Very difficult. Because I couldn’t blame my factory.
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: They’re buying from Me.
Brett Fellows: Yeah. In your world, Geison, is kind of an 80/20 rule. We usually find 80% of our revenue comes from 20% of our customer base, or 80% of our activities come from 20% of the work that went into it. Do you find that as well?
Geison Moura: I find that. That’s a very interesting law. Yeah, it is. It’s totally that.
Brett Fellows: Mm-hmm. And the average… so, I don’t even know. So, if you line up a school for a soccer team, I guess my question would be, how many uniforms do they order? And then what’s the general lead time for something like that?
Geison Moura: So, I have 2 types of customers, a high school or college, they order approximately 30 kits for their soccer team. So, they have in between 25 to 30 kits. And a youth club. And youth clubs, sometimes we have a club here in Minnesota that have 33 teams. That’s over 400 kids. So, yeah, those take about 4 to 7, 4 to 8 weeks to deliver.
Brett Fellows: Right.
Geison Moura: And for the high schools, usually 4 to 5 weeks. So, it’s a little faster. But everything is fully custom. You get your name on, your number, everything the way the customers design.
Brett Fellows: Yeah, yeah. And have you found, I mean, the benefit of owning your own business, on the downside is you only make what you can, especially when you started, but the upside is your ceiling is unlimited.
[35:04] Geison’s top priority when it comes to planning for his eventual exit and retirement.
Brett Fellows: And so, it’s a great way or great tool to create wealth. Do you see this as your number 1 pillar to create wealth for yourself in retirement or in the future? Tell me about that.
Geison Moura: Yeah. Yeah, no, I see that. And like you said, the ability to make as much money as you would be able to do, it’s something really interesting. And yeah, I like that. I like that. Even though I’m really focused right now on building the business. I know that that that the money will follow, and I’m taking my salary. But my biggest focus, my biggest focus right now is to have something that runs itself, that one day, if I want to exit, I can, it has all the processes in place. And it’s a real business. So, that’s my goal.
Brett Fellows: Yeah. Great. Love it. Geison, this podcast is about successful businesses. And I think, as I mentioned to you, how they can take their success and capitalize on that at some point in time. So, I’m curious, what would be your definition of success for you?
Geison Moura: My definition of success is that you can have a business, like I just said, that runs itself and help people with providing good products, and it’s profitable. So, those things are, to me, success. If I have to be in my business 24/7 for that to work, that’s not success for me. If I’m not in my business, it’s not generating money, it’s not success. And if the products are not great, it’s not success. So, I think those 3 things would be a good definition of success. It’s running by itself. It’s generating money. And it’s putting out great products.
Brett Fellows: Great. Love it. Thanks for sharing that. I know when we started, you were excited about a new feature for… you’ve gone beyond just uniforms and such, but you have now like a workout apparel. Tell me about that.
Geison Moura: Yes. So, in the beginning, we only did team uniforms. But now, we launched, yeah, a workout apparel we call the performance wear line. And yeah, it’s for people that want to get in shape and not pay an arm and a leg for a shirt that is high quality. So, we have long-sleeve, short-sleeve shorts. I’m really big into CrossFit, so I kind of like what apparel they wear. And follow a little bit of that to create our own workout line. Yeah.
Brett Fellows: How do you keep up with the new stuff? Do people bring you new product to look at all the time?
Geison Moura: Yes, yes. Yeah, our customers are always… because everybody that we work with have my cell phone. So, every week, I get pictures.
Brett Fellows: Pictures, that’s funny.
Geison Moura: About things that that they think… everything is custom, right? So, we can make everything. Today, it’s funny you say that, because today, I got a picture of a customer from a high school that want a parka jacket that you can switch. But in a winter in Minnesota, I’ve never heard, I’ve never seen that. It doesn’t have the zipper or anything. You just cover yourself. It’s big in football.
Brett Fellows: Football, sure.
Geison Moura: Yeah.
Brett Fellows: Because of the pads.
Geison Moura: I was like, “Great, let’s explore that.”
Brett Fellows: Yeah.
Geison Moura: We’ll start working on that.
Brett Fellows: That’s fantastic. So, I’ll round up. I do have 1 last question. I don’t know if you know the answer to this. In a little bit of homework, because I know your career was longer than this, do you know how many yellow cards you had?
Geison Moura: Oh, man. I was known for yellow and red cards. I don’t know. But I… quite a bit.
Brett Fellows: Well, if you were known for… I only saw 12, 12 yellow cards, and 2 red cards. But I said this is a small snippet, I think, of your career. Because I think your career was longer than what I saw.
Geison Moura: Yes. Okay. Only 12? Okay, that’s good. That’s good. I thought it was more. Or at least the coach made it seem like it was more.
Brett Fellows: Yeah, that’s funny. That’s good stuff. Well, Geison, thank you very much. It’s been a pleasure, and great to have you on The Retiring Entrepreneur Podcast. And I wish you the best of luck with Stimulus Athletic.
Geison Moura: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Brett Fellows: You got it. Have a great day.
Geison Moura: You too.
