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Hey, everyone. I'm Austin Hankowitz.

And I'm Janice Torres. Welcome to Mind the Business, Small Business Success Stories, a podcast brought to you by Intuit Quickbooks and iHeartRadio's Ruby Studio. In each episode, Austin and I chat with small business owners as they share their stories about the ups and downs of owning a small business. Plus, we'll learn from their experience about how you can help fortify and strengthen your own business. Now, Austin, I want to know, do you ever get a chance to be lazy?

This is such a good question because I was just chatting with my girlfriend. We like to plan one big vacation trip once a year around the world. So this last summer, we went to Mexico. And we were chatting about the fact that whenever we go on vacation, she's more of the traveler type. She wants to go on the adventures and the excursions. I'm more the lazy type where I'm trying to sit by the pool and sip on a cocktail of some So hopefully, fingers crossed, I'll have a nice, lazy adventure sometime next year. But I think what's really important as a solopreneur is to give yourself a little bit of grace. I had, I think it was maybe Monday or Tuesday earlier this week, I just had an off day. I wasn't able to click. I wasn't able to make good content. I couldn't write. I feel like my emails were all lagging. My brain was just foggy. And it's okay to just decompress, get a little lazy, and give yourself some grace because we all have those kinds of days. Janice, do you also feel that way, or am I just overly lazy?

No, Austin. Honestly, I feel like I could probably be the President of the Lazy Entreprene Club, especially now, because I do take off a month every quarter. So that was a commitment that I made to myself last year. I said, I really want to create this life where work is very optional, and how can I do that? So I'm testing semi-retirement, maybe. It's just been awesome because I realized I still make the same amount of money, and I'm not having to work as much. And so embracing laziness as not being a bad thing is the ethos of the folks that we're going to be talking to, the founders of Lazy Butt Club Clothing Company, which, I mean, the name, really.

What a fun name for a company. I mean, I love their logo. It's a duck literally lounging on a lawn chair, just completely relaxed. I will say when it comes to business, the Lazy Butt Club and every small business owner out there is the opposite of lazy. There's a lot of hard work in going into business for yourself, but there's a lot of smart work, too. And different strategies for maximizing results, such as having an account with QuickBooks money where every dollar you put away in a savings envelope, earns you interest at over 70 times the US average, allowing you to build your rainy day fund and rest easy knowing your money is working for you and definitely not being a lazy butt.

That's absolutely a great feeling knowing that your money is working just as hard as you are.

On that note, let's introduce our guests. Michael and Daniel Jay run a family business called Lazy Butt Club. It's an apparel company that specializes in items such as cozy staples, loungewear, and more. They operate in the US and sell their products in over a dozen countries internationally. Michael originally crafted the designs decades ago when he was following his own business journey as a T-shirt store operator. Daniel and his brother nick rediscovered their father's work in his warehouse in Vista, California, put the shirts on, and quickly discovered they had a hit on their hands. They launched the brand under its catchy name and found success selling shirts and other products online with the help of the popularity of their family-focused videos on TikTok. Welcome to the show, Michael and Daniel.

Thank you.

Hi. Thanks for having us.

Absolutely. I love the name Lazy Butt Club, but how the heck did you come up with it?

Back in the '80s, there were a lot of club, Club Med, Club This, Club That. A lot of designs and T-shirt shops were Vacation Club, Yacht Club, all those different things. I was selling T-shirt transfers to T-shirt shops all around the country. I just picked up on the coinage of club. I did Yacht Club, Beach Club, Vacation Club. I had quite a few. Then back a few years ago when the kids dug out the old transfers, that's where they got the Lazy Butt Club and thought that was pretty neat.

Well, it's cool that you had made the duck without putting Lazy Butt Club under it. Then you thought the duck looked lazy.

Yeah, I called him a beach consultant.

Yeah. Daniel, you've resurrected this great brand your father created decades ago. When did you realize that these fun designs would have such a large demand?

We found them on the iron on transfers. Dad had some still stored away. My brother and I wore the shirts around for about a year. And very quickly, it became the most complimented and commented on shirt that I had ever owned. Every where we went, be it the grocery store checkout or just at a coffee shop or anywhere, even at the gas station, someone from the car over was like, Hey, I love your shirt. So pretty quickly, we realized that it was a special design and something that resonated with a lot people, and it's just really playful and fun to wear. So after that happened so many times, we had the idea. Then maybe that it was the start of something, the Lazy Butt Club. Maybe we could start it as a brand and build off of that. So, yeah, after we wore it for a while, we decided that we definitely had something special and that we should just go for it.

That's awesome. Now, for you, Michael, what did you think when you found your children wearing and now eventually selling your old shirt designs? Were you a little skeptical? Like, wait a second, this was a thing back in the '80s. Why are people excited about it now in 2021, '22, and '23?

Well, basically, they've been wearing them for so long now that I forgot about what it was like in the beginning. But I had sold it to many stores, T-shirt shops and stuff around the country over the years, and had real good success with it then. But for them to bring it back and get the results that we had, it's pretty amazing. I had two retail T-shirt shops back in Denver in early '70s and '80s, and people would come in all the time and be excited about them, buy them and wear them. It just set up on the shelves for probably close to 20 years or more. Then the kids dug it out, and next, they're wearing it. Their friends are asking to buy it, and so we started selling them.

Oh, absolutely. I mean, who doesn't like a cool design of a tyrannisaurus rex, wrecking on a ski slope, right?

You guys have gone from selling one T-shirt a week to hundreds a day. How fast did that growth actually happen? Were you surprised by how quickly things grew or you're ready for what was coming?

We were definitely surprised. The first year we started, we sold about 50 in the first year, and then we sold '93 in the second year. Then in the third year, that was the year we went viral in March of 2021, that year we sold over 6,000 orders, probably close to 10,000 shirts, because a lot of the orders were multiple shirts. But yeah, after that first video, we sold 500 orders overnight. The previous month, we probably made five orders in the whole month. So it went from five orders a month to 500 overnight. Then as far as being ready for it, we weren't technically ready for it at all. We were basically made to order. It took about three weeks to fill all those orders. People were waiting for a little while, but everybody was happy to support and nobody was upset at all.

Did you communicate that with your customers that there would be a lead time or how How did you handle that increase in demand?

Once we realized how behind we were on the orders. Luckily, everybody was buying through the video, so I posted another video. The follow-up videos were all about how we're crazy, overwhelmed, and grateful for everything. People were more than happy to wait. I mean, a lot of the comments were like, take your time, don't work too hard. It was nice that everybody was so supportive and just happy to help us out. On TikTok, they love to see you grow like that, and they love to see a small company blow up.

Yeah. Michael, how have you managed to keep the team small with this large increase in size? Has there been a strategic thought process around, let's keep it lean and mean, or is growth one of those things that you are talking about as time goes on?

Basically, over the years that I've had the T-shirt shops and different things like that, it was always just trying to keep something going and making new designs and just continuing. And when I realized I could make more money than minimum wage selling a few shirts, that's the incentive more than anything, just being a business owner. And as far as getting big, At one point, I had about 15 different employees with my T-shirt shops back in Colorado. But you can grow and have to work harder and make more orders to keep the thing going. But since the name of our company is Lazy Eazy Butt Club, we're leaning more towards keeping between the three of us and making it easy. There's a lot of things we could do to really get bigger. If we get big, that's fine. I'm sure we can handle it. So we'll just take it one day at a time. Yeah.

I think that's something that not enough entrepreneurs are honest with themselves about is like, how much do I want to grow this? When is enough enough? I appreciate the fact that that is your thought process, because I think a lot of us are programmed, especially with social the media to be like, always scale, always grow, always get bigger, do it as quickly as possible. And maybe for some of us, that's just not the path to success.

Yeah. And like with us, especially with Danny, doing all the videos and everything, we go viral or mini viral. We make a lot of sales. And then it's neat to be able to not post a few videos and take a few days off, go golfing or whatever. So we're living the dream of the Lazy Butt Club, basically.

I love that. That's the importance of defining what success looks like in business.

So we've talked about keeping the ethos of the Lazy Butt Club and being as lean and relaxed as possible. Are you leveraging any tools to help you stay competitive while remaining small?

We recently got all official with the payroll and everything. The first two years, the taxes were a little complicated, but now we're under an S Corp and we have payroll, and we actually use the payroll through QuickBooks, which makes it super easy. The taxes are taken out with a click of a button. I don't have to think about any of that, which is super nice. It seems pretty straightforward the way it's laid out.

Coming up after the break.

After that, I realized that it was all about the story. Just being honest and authentic, and that's what people resonate with the most.

We'll be right back with Mind the business.

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Join me, Miranda Hawkins, as we step into the twisted world of the Brothers Grim.

Listen to the Deep Dark Woods starting February 13th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome back to Mind the Business, small business success stories from iHeartMedia's Ruby Studio and Intuit Quickbooks.

So I discovered you all on TikTok. You guys are crushing it now on TikTok shop. How do you think that your family-focused videos have affected the demand for your brand?

I honestly wasn't posting all that much in the first couple of years, but definitely the focus was just trying to grow the idea of the brand. And I believe that the design and the idea stands on its own. Once I posted the video of dad and telling the story, it was just one clip, 24-second clip of dad pressing the design and then pulling off the paper and revealing the design. I said, My dad and I trying to make a brand out of designs he made in the '80s. He works hard but loves when he has time to be lazy. If you drop a follow, it would mean the world to us. They were hooked with the story. Then at the very end, they got to see the design. After that, I realized that it was all about the story to gain that emotional connection with the audience and just being honest. And that's what social media offers is the ability to be honest and authentic. And that's what people resonate with the most.

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more with you here. And it's a challenge to post that first video. You feel like, Oh, my gosh, what if people are going to judge me? What if they don't like my products or service or whatever I'm offering here as a solopreneur? Do you have any piece of advice to maybe encourage someone listening right now that maybe hasn't thought about TikTok shop or Instagram or just social media in general for their products and services?

I might say that when Danny first started doing the videos, he was a little concerned about making the perfect video. And I said, I see all these videos on TikTok, and some of them aren't really good, but people watch them. And if you make a video that's not good, then they'll swipe. So who cares? The main thing is just getting the video out there. And most people that are watching TikTok videos, they're not doing it to be a critique on what you're doing. They want to hear some words out of your mouth, and that's it. It's really pretty neat.

I love that. So essentially, you're taking on another role now as a production company with all the marketing and advertising work that you're doing by creating these videos. So how do you find time to continue the output of videos while keeping this lean footprint?

It is a lot to think about. While we're in the middle of production, I'll be like, Oh, I need a video. I need a clip of this. When it's while I'm doing 100 other things. So you just have to take out the camera and film a couple of day in the life things. What are we doing now? People like to see that stuff. We could plan for more of our videos, but right now we're just doing it as we go. It's exactly what we're doing that day. Or I'll use a clip from a few months ago, and I'll put some words over it. One of the clips I made that went viral, it was 13 different clips, and those clips were from all over. They were six months back to that day. I combined a whole bunch of clips into one video, and it did really well. Then it was like, Oh, I'm glad that I stopped and I videotaped this thing for a few seconds. But yeah, it is a lot. You have to constantly be thinking about it. But it's what we want to do, and it's actually fun to share our story.

Yeah, I think that's why people are resonating with it, because not only are you sharing the behind the scenes, the story of what the brand represents, But you're also just giving a real life glimpse into what it looks like on a day to day basis, whether that's making shirts or packing out orders. I think that's the part that makes people feel really connected when they see you growing because they feel like they've been part of the journey alongside you all.

And they have.

Do you think that part of the advantage that you've seen is the fact that you are a family-owned business? Have you gotten feedback from your audience that that's something that they're connecting with?

Definitely helps being family business because so many people relate to it. People comment, they're like, I love that you get to work with your dad. It's so cool. Your dad reminds me of mine, or whatever, stuff like that. It's definitely an added thing. It's not just two people working together. It's family. It's cool.

It makes it sound authentic. It's like, oh, it's a legit business because it's a family business, which technically it is. It works out pretty good.

Yeah, that's our story.

When we go to the street fairs and stuff, we get a lot of people that recognize us and I've even been in stores and stuff and girls reading my shirt, and she said, I follow these people on TikTok. I said, Is there an old guy on the TikTok? She goes, Oh, that's you. That's happened five or six times. And so many people that I meet at street fairs and stuff, it's funny because I'll tell them that we're on TikTok, and they say they're not on TikTok. And I said, Well, you should be. And one thing that I've leaned towards is I keep saying that, well, Danny, when he makes the videos, we've got quite a few with three or four or five or seven million views. And most of those are of me. So when I see people, I'll tell them, if you're not on TikTok or if you're on TikTok, get an old person in your video. Because that old person, whether it be your parent or whoever, they're part of your story. And just make them part of your story and see what happens.

I absolutely love that. You're breaking the stigma that folks in older generations just don't embrace technology and the new way that things happen. So I think it's great to embrace the technology and tell folks how powerful it's been to grow your business.

At the end of the day, people follow people. They don't follow brands. That's why Tim Cook has more followers on LinkedIn than Apple. So it's like people see you two creating these T-shirts, spending time together, enjoying yourselves, running your business, and they want to follow your journey. I'm sure they love the Lazy Butt Club as much as I do, but they want to follow Michael and Daniel. And I think there's something really powerful to be said about that. So, Michael, you've been in this T-shirt game for a very long time. Was it weird to start selling things other than T-shirts, like sweat pants and hoodies and caps and stickers, or did it come I would say basically came natural because I've always sold the sweatshirts and T-shirts and everything.

And with TikTok, that we've been able to get out to more people, it just seems like the next step is to offer them more stuff. And people enjoy it. It's neat to think that there's lazy butts all over the world that want to buy it. We've sent this to 24 different countries.

Oh, my goodness. So when you started introducing these new product offerings, did you to change your day-to-day work streams? Was there any new technology you had to use to try and track different shipments from different suppliers?

I would say this day and age, just because of shipping and you can get it the next day and all that stuff, you don't really have to keep a huge inventory. And so to add an extra product, it's not that big of a deal. Order the shirts, order them, get them the next day, you print them, ship them out the next day. And TikTok wants you to do it in three days, plus or minus, to get stuff out. And we don't have that hard of a problem doing it.

That makes a ton of sense. I'm curious, do you have any tips or tricks for people who are trying to find their next good supplier or build that relationship with a supplier? Any maybe questions to ask or any pieces of information to verify?

Basically, the best advice would be is try to talk to the owner or vice president, somebody that's pretty much in charge of the company. And if you feel a connection with them, go with them. If it costs more, 50 cents more, whatever, it's not that big deal because just like building trust with the brand, you build trust with the people you're buying from.

Now, the question is, do the founder and CEO of Lazy Butt Club ever find time to be lazy themselves?

As far as being lazy, getting to be lazy, dad wasn't lazy. It didn't seem like you were lazy at all in the first 30 years of your business. I mean, dad has told me he's been working. I mean, there was times you were working What? 70 hours plus a week?

70, 80, whatever you have to. Yeah.

Yeah. But were you lazy? Did you get any time to be lazy then? Probably more now.

I think I found time.

Now I have plenty of lazy hobbies. I play guitar, which I think is lazy, and then I play a lot of video games. I think we could be bigger, maybe, if I wasn't truly a lazy butt. But the way we're growing now is a good I think I'll start working 70 hours a week like dad did when he was my age, maybe eventually.

At least for one week.

I love it. I love it. Well, listen, Daniel, tell us where people should go watch your fun videos and check out your products.

Yeah, social media-wise, we're really just on TikTok and Instagram. I mean, those are the big two. We've had a lot of success on TikTok. Then recently this year, we actually had a good amount of success on Instagram. We're up to 86,000 followers on Instagram and 300 and something thousand followers on TikTok. So it's pretty sweet. And that's definitely where you can find us.

That's incredible. That does not sound like you all have been lazy at all.

Not in the slightest.

Yeah, that's what a lot of times on the comments on the videos, they'll say, You guys aren't living up to your name.

Yeah, it's true. You're going to have to change your name.

You're going to have to instill a 20-hour work week. Yeah.

We've done that before.

I love it. Thanks, you all. That was a lot of fun. Thanks for being here. Yeah, of course.

All right, Janice, what's the verdict? Are we Lazy Butt Club members now or what?

I need to be on the board of directors of the Lazy Butt Club at this point because the entire ethos that Michael and Daniel represent is so on point. I love it.

You can be the chairwoman, and I will be on the board with you. And we're going to have quarterly board meetings. I'll wear a T-shirt. It's going to be so much fun. Yes.

And mandatory unlimited PTO.

All right, Janice, what was your favorite part?

I love the fact that they embrace this concept of laziness as entrepreneurs, right? Because I think there's so much of this hustle all the time, sleep when you die. That's not necessarily what all of us want to be doing. Part of the reason why we start businesses is because we do want more time. We do want more freedom to live our lives outside of the structure of a normal corporate job. The fact that they're okay with not doing all the things and just enjoying the ride as they get to wherever that destiny is going to be for them, I absolutely love that sentiment. I think that's something that we need to talk about more. How about you, Austin?

I very much agree with you. I think hustle culture is toxic. We see all these people who are working 70, 80, 100 hours a week. Don't get me wrong, Michael was doing that when he was getting it started, but I think everyone's got to have that small season. But unfortunately, a lot people take that season into a lifelong reality. And to your point, got to give ourselves a little bit of grace here as solopreneurs. I think what really resonated with me was, Michael mentioned, just post the video. You don't need to have it polished and perfect. You can just make a video of you packing some boxes, put some cool sound on top of it on TikTok. And you got two and a half million views doing that. So I think for a lot of solopreneurs listening right now, give yourself some grace on posting your content. Every single video has to be perfect. It doesn't have to be polished. Just document the journey and your audience will definitely appreciate that.

Absolutely. I mean, I think we're breaking the stereotype of what entrepreneurship can look like. It can be lazy and you can start it imperfectly. Well, that's it for today's episode. You can find me on social media at YoQuieroDinero podcast.

And you can find me at Austin Hankwitz. You can follow Intuit Quickbooks on all social media at Quickbooks. To get the tools you need to start, run, and grow your business, head to quickbooks. Com today.

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