Mark Samuel - Think As BIG As Possible

What's up, Fitness fans? Welcome back to the Future of Fitness podcast. This is your host, Eric Malzone. This is episode number 30, and I talk to Mark Samuel. So he is the CEO and founder of FitMark Meal Prep Bags, and his newest venture is I1 Organics. So that's I W-O-N, and they make protein chips for the masses. I think he's really, really onto something. But the greatest part about this episode is just the feeling of Mark's passion and excitement for everything that he does. He's truly an entrepreneur. He's been doing it since a young age. And I picked up some great subtopics on here. Number one was his three steps to starting a new business, just like he did with Fitmark, and going straight to JSPort to do it. He also talked about the importance of customer service and how that really differentiated his bigger business, Fitmark, and the one that he's doing now with I1. I think the guy's going to change the world. I think you're going to be hearing about I1 organics for a long, long time, and it's going to go global in a big way. But the biggest part about this was Mark's total and utter commitment to thinking bigger every day and the passion and the energy that he brings to it. In this episode, there are some connectivity issues, which I apologize for, but actually, no, I don't apologize at all because this was so good on the first take, there is no way in hell we were going to re-record it. So if you're ever feeling a little de-energized during the day, pick up this episode, listen to it again and again and again. I know I will. So without further ado, this is Mark Samuel, CEO of FitMark and I Want Organics. All right, everybody, welcome back. Eric Malzone here with the Future of Fitness Podcast. And today I have the pleasure of talking to Mark Samuels. And uh I quick background, Mark, you and I used to train together back in the day, uh about nine, ten years ago at Lane Fitness in San Francisco. And uh I just remember you just crushing workouts and I me looking up to you. You were my hero at the time. Um so now I get to interview you, right? Years later, I know you've been a busy cat. So tell everyone about what's uh a little bit of your kind of background on your fitness story, um, and then all of the entrepreneurial things you're you've been working on and what you're doing now. Cool.

You you mean uh when you say crushing it, is that why you mean why my lower back hurts now? Why am I why my you know my my legs are always hurting? Why why I basically now can only get in like one day of CrossFit per week? Is that what you mean by that?

Yeah, I'm not saying we we train smart. Oh, okay, got it.

Got it. Okay, I just wanted to make sure we were talking about the same thing. Clear delineation. Yeah, we are. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So uh anyway, yeah, so those were good times, man. Um, so let's see, yeah, same same stuff that I've been doing. Um, when I met you, was had a couple businesses that I was doing in San Francisco. Fast forward, um, probably had a couple more businesses in between those six and you know, six, seven, eight years. Um, and then the last two businesses is uh that I have or what I'm currently working on now is um we have Fitmark. Uh Fitmark is uh manufacturer of meal prep bags. Uh we've been doing that for now about five years. I mean, that's just a it does its own thing at this point. I mean, we we still want to innovate a couple new styles every year, um, but we have a really great direct-to-consumer model. Um, we don't do uh we don't do wholesale, we we aren't really interested in the retail and environment for that type of business. Um we just have a really great social following. We we you know we we manufacture really high quality meal prep bags, so there's not very many uh of us um of us uh in the category. So we're we're slowly but surely um gonna continue with that business and and hopefully allow it to scale in that direct-to-consumer environment. But um, you know, we'll see how that plays out over the next few years.

Um and then evolved, sorry to hold you up, Mark, but how did that evolve? Was that something that was that your own itch that you scratched when you developed that that product? Or how did you come up with the idea for Fitmark?

Well, it was with uh it was with uh the company and the product that I had co-founded and invented uh prior to Fitmark, which is uh with another meal prep bag company that's still around. They're they're still doing really great. Um it was um the other co-founder, he had an idea that involved uh sorry, this thing keeps turning off. I'm just gonna keep uh keep uh turning it back on. Um uh there was just the idea, I was watching how I was eating at the time. Actually, it was because we were doing CrossFit. You know, this is again, this is early, right? This is 2008, um, 2009-ish. Um eating that certain way with multiple meals per day. And if I were in an office, it was uh seeing all these types of foods scattered on the desk. And then there was just uh the idea of how do you um how do you uh manage though that that uh food process, how do you manage those meals, how do you create some sort of efficiency um for how you're eating, and that was through a bag. Uh and in that particular case, it had um uh you know an organizational element to the bag with shelving systems and pockets and and the like. Um remember me meal meal bags or what we now call meal prep bags, they've been around forever. I mean, igloo, you know, being a sort of a cooler bag uh or or even having a cooler element in terms of a plastic um shelled uh cooler have been around for a long time. But nobody uh had pointed that idea uh towards the health and fitness community and said, okay, we know you want to manage your meals, right? Um here is a bag that that helps you do that, and by the way, it looks cool. Um, and so those are the elements that were occurring at that time. And then um I had later left that company and started Fitmark um doing more of uh high-end um gym and fitness bags, and then it morphed into doing um into doing uh meal prep bags, which is basically about 95% of our business now.

Cool. Yeah, it brings me back, man. I I played water polo and swam growing up. So I would always we they would joke because water pole players would always have coolers because we beat up at five every morning, right? We would do our 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. workout, then we would go through school, and then we'd stay for a workout after school. So we had to bring our entire and you know, this would have come in great 30 years ago, man. So sure. Sure.

Yeah, the the category, you know, what we're gonna do with FitMark without necessarily saying what we're gonna do next year and the year after is we have ideas about expanding, right? You do wanna this isn't just about health and fitness or the guy or gal who's into CrossFit or goes to orange theory or or the like. I mean, you know, meal prepping is is is is a lifestyle, and it can it can be with those who are looking to get uh get into you know starting a diet, maintaining a diet. Um, it could be for families, you know, moms and dads on the go with their kids. And so there's just there's a way to point really great-looking bags that offer that sort of functionality and giving them options. Um, you know, giving them options on this is what this bag does, this is what this one does. We have a backpack that has a system in it, we have a duffel bag that has a system in it. Um, because that's what I've done in the last couple of years, and I actually got a patent on it, um, a patent issued was I invented the idea of having a removable meal prep system within a bag. Um, and so you know, we've we've been able to sort of push that into designs that are uh a little bit more uh general in theme, you know, backpacks and duffels and tote bags and things like that. So Fitmark is is a is a cool company. We we love you know the customer customer service act uh aspect of the business. We have a tremendous uh reputation uh you know for for that and and sort of how we we've um defined our our um not just our product, but just the brand in terms of how we um treat our customers, how we guarantee the product, how we give back to um uh the community. We're involved, you know, we we've given um we've donated 15,000 backpacks, you know, to date uh to youth organizations. So those are things that we love to do. And so people I think could gravitate towards that and really get that feel um and then make their choice on who they who they want to purchase a meal prep bag from. Um so you know, it's a it's a it's a we have fun with it.

Is that how you would say that you differentiate your your product versus some of the others?

I think so. I mean, I you know, when it comes to business like that, like a consumer goods business, I I'm I you know, you gotta be transparent about it. There's there's multiple options that somebody has. And and you know, I I say go for it. If you found even my past company, right? You know, most be like, well, don't you compete? Sure, we compete. I mean, but I but it doesn't, I don't care. If you have an affinity to that other brand because of a picture they put up, go for it. The fact of the matter is you have to have you have to have a true intent on why you're doing or selling something, right? Our intent is to put meal prep bags out into the market that hopefully people like, right? They like the look, the feel, the quality, and they use it. Why? Because our mission is to help you uh maintain your health uh and or get into a health and fitness lifestyle. I mean, that's what we do. So um, so I just maintain that sort of mission, stay focused on that, and at the same time, you know, try to offer some really cool products and and make sure and reassure the the um you know the the public that this is what we do. We also give back, you know, we're really into answering your questions. We we you know, we reply to messages like within like an hour, like you know, we're we're that neurotic company. We're we're we're like real about this stuff. So hopefully that wins over a customer or thousands of them, but I can't worry about anything else but just that. And then hopefully, you know, hopefully that results in some success for us.

Have you uh have you always been entrepreneurial? Like how long is this, how long have you been doing business for yourself?

Forever. Forever. It it and it and this isn't one of those like stories like when I was, you know, like you know, Gary Vaynercheck selling baseball cards, like there are definitely like there are definitely those stories out there, and some are really true, right? Some are really true. So yes, I have that same exact storyline. I just don't talk about it very much, but it's it's the the the fact is that yes, not only did I do that, and that's what I was doing in middle school, selling the selling the little sour sour candies. I was buying them at the at the Asian market, you know, and make my mom drive me over there. I'd buy the sour candies for 10 cents, I'd sell them at the lunch for 25. Like that story is real, but who, but whatever, right? The fact is, you know, I had to hurry up and get to adult life here and try to make a real business, you know, and do something bigger and grander that I could that I could focus on and hopefully, you know, make something out of it.

So you've um, yeah, you're you're a busy guy. So when you started FitMork, did you did you get funding? How did that work? Like how did you, you know, I'm I'm thinking like, imagine somebody's Mark from 10 years ago is listening right now, right? What how did you how did you get started? How did how did you take your idea, put it into actual concept and then design and and all of that?

Had the idea, wrote it down, knew exactly what my next steps would have been, went and looked for somebody who was going, somebody with the bag manufacturing experience, navigated myself, like like this is this is this is what I did. Jan Sport is the largest, everybody knows knows who Jan Sport is. So if I'm sitting there, you know, this is at a day one of wanting coming up with this idea. I say to myself, well, if I want to get into the bag business, I need to have somebody with bag business experience. Well, who better to find than through somebody like Jan Sport? You just have to think as big as possible, right? Like, think as big as possible. Because the fact of the matter is, whatever you think of can actually happen. People just don't, they just don't execute on it, right? They'd be like, wait, you want me to call and try to get a hold of the CEO of Jan Sport? Uh yes, I do. I because in today's environment and six years ago, you could figure it out. Is it is it going to be is it going to be tough for a second? Probably. But if you sat down and really visualized yourself getting this figured out, you could do it. So fast forward, I did figure it out. I spoke to two ex-presidents of Jansport, navigated myself to an ex-employee who was who had the deep, deep experience that we needed. That was that was step two, knowing that somebody was going to come on board that had that experience. Um, step three, yes, uh, you need a little bit of money. So if I put up a little bit of put up a little bit of my own to start, and then I walked into a couple, uh, I walk into an office or two of some friends who know me and know sort of know my um my my my stilo and I tell them I got an idea, give me a check. They told me this is the dumbest idea I've ever heard. Who the fuck wants to who wants to sell bags, right? Uh and they then of course they wrote me a check and I walked out of the office. So that's how it started. That's how it started.

Oh, that's great. And you touched on a huge topic here, and I I'm so guilty of it of not thinking big enough, right? And do you have any exercises? Do you ever catch yourself thinking small and be like, no, Mark, go bigger? Do you ever is there anything that does that game play out in your head at all? Or uh because it doesn't mine, I'll be honest. I'll be like, oh, you're thinking you're thinking small. Why not think a hundred times bigger, right?

I I think it happens with everybody, no matter what their physical or biological makeup is. As they could be touting the biggest things, right? Um, but there's for me at least, it's it's when I'm the most focused. Like, like even today is a really great example. I can feel my aura today. I am on fire. Like, I just the reason I we earlier today, I was driving, I had to go to, I was going to close a new account for the snack business, and like then I was talking to the sales rep, and I was like, give me another name, and like you're I'm not leaving San Francisco until then I dropped off another thing at a at a gym. Like I knew I was right there, and I'm like, you people better get out of my way today. Like, like I'm about to just go and annihilate things today. I I you want to when you're in those modes, first off, for me again, it's when I'm super healthy. Like I, you know, last four months, for instance, I haven't had an a sip of alcohol. Like that it's like I'm on I'm on fire right now, right? And there is nothing that's gonna get in my way. And so for anyone, I think it's when you can feel those moments happening and you feel on fire, go start reaching way deep. Like, like get really deep. You know, like what you were saying, you're like, sometimes I kind of second guess myself and I'm not sure. Okay, that's okay. Why don't you just wait until that that day, right? If this is the only way it can happen, wait until that day you wake up and you jumped out of bed and you were pumped, take advantage of that and go and do that big though, go do the big experiment, right? Go reach really, really deep. Take that moment of focus and just go and go deep with it. So that that would be a comment there.

Oh, that's great. That's huge, man. And there are days, you know, if you actually take note of it, if you if you become very aware of the days that you feel solid. And and then, you know, the biggest thing too is when you see those days and you recognize those days, how are those days different? How can you recreate that as many possible ways and days as possible? You know, it's it's just something that's uh you have to be self-aware. So that's great info. Now I have one comment on that.

You want to comment on that? I'll tell you how. I'll tell you how. The big, the big rolling rock, right? When that big ass rolling rock is going down the hill and the momentum is picking up, I'll guarantee you that it's not a coincidence that each and every day seems to be the days that you're on fire. Like you're like, damn, I was killing it today. Then the next day you're like, damn, I was killing it today. There, it's not a coincidence. It's it's the it's the consistency of you having these successes that continue to roll that that that that that rock down the hill with its own momentum, and it keeps building and building and building. I I use it as an example, and I don't want to bring them up again, but like you know, like Gary V, right? Like they're like, damn, this guy's on fire. He's always taught you want to know why someone like that is always on fire? Because he's always got stuff in the pipeline. He's always got things going on, he's always got the next success down the road. He always has the next meeting, he's always on a flight, he's always on the like, like it's not and and and and remember, he he he or anybody like him would definitely say that they have losses in the day. He they he gets the same call from some big brand who's like, I chose to go another route, I'm not using your agency. And you know what he he does, you know the mentality of someone like that? Fuck it. On to the next one. Why? Because he has the luxury of having the next one in 20 minutes anyway, right? When you have so many things in the pipeline, when you have so many irons in the fire, right? Which you better have done for you to even get to that moment that you are starting to see the rock rolling down the hill, right? Then and you don't give a fuck when somebody says no to your sales call or no, I don't want this, or no, you can't get that. It's like next, you know. So that's just that's a that's a two-minute on that one.

Yeah, that's great. And I do listen, I listen to a lot of Gary Vee. And I think one of the other things I'll add to that thought, just to talk about this guy, because he is, you know, listen to him, he's he's highly entertaining, he does fire you up. Every time someone tells him no, that chip on his shoulder just gets a little bit bigger. And then so he's got he's you know, he talks about his mentally, you know, you can't beat him because if you if you praise him and you say yes, that makes him that's great, obviously. If you say no, then he just says, Yeah, fuck you. That's fine, that's great. I'm just gonna make I'm just gonna work that much harder now. Um great insight, Mark. So what are you doing now? Tell me about the new business and and how you got involved in that.

So um about a c a couple years ago, um, I had an idea for the snack business. And and the reality is is because I wanted to get into a business that would have recurring, recurring business. Meaning the bad business is tough, and what anybody would say is you when you have a consumer goods product where you you only sell it possibly once, maybe twice in a year, maybe you have a new style, maybe they're gonna buy a gift. It's a really tough business because you have to acquire a lot of customers and then acquire new ones, acquire new ones. So I really wanted to get into a business that had a completely different revenue model, right? And one that I could be just as excited about and and I knew at some stage I'd get into foods, I just didn't know what it was. Um you still there?

Yep, keep it.

Oh, good. A say a savory protein snack. So the bar, the bar business was already booming. I mean, the you can see it. I mean, go walk into your local grocery store, right? The the shelves keep getting wider and wider. Now that's because not only is the consumer market uh you know asking for more of these products, but the way we eat these products is different than most. They're on the go snacks. So if you have an affinity to a protein bar or or something similar to it, even an energy bar, it could be a kind bar, um, you more than likely are buying multiple. So the sales are are there's a lot of sales that gets generated there. Um this also why you see it i mean you follow our you know rx bar that just got sold and you know these really great stories right but um the there was a void in uh um in the savory snack category um i thought there would be a great it would be a great idea for a protein chip i had not really seen one again this was right to to put some context it was right before quest who you know um had put out their protein chip i had already started on the idea and about two weeks into me f trying to navigate same thing that i did with the bags okay if i want to get into the snack business how do i do this i gotta figure this out um they had launched their chips and i said oh man i missed that one because they already had distribution i mean their bars were on fire i mean they had social media so um i it didn't stop me um but it it it it slowed me for a second because i i wanted to see what the feedback was gonna be um that's what's so great about social media today you know you can't you can literally gauge someone's success by going and just reading about them online especially a company that has a lot of distribution and a lot of social impact because all of a sudden you'll get people talking and what had happened was um they they did not get the best praise um there the the product was not something people were jumping over you know the moon for so I kept forging ahead and I said okay I'm gonna fill that spot um and fast forward last year we launched it and what I realized I did was I launched a product that was different than anything else because it was organic certified it was plant based um and it was high in protein I mean so we had this thing but what I realized I was trying to do was trying to create a snack that was going to be better than what was not good in the market you know it's it's like that weird scenario okay so I want to be better than the than the bad product but what does that actually mean right like did did I want to be did I did I want to be did I want to have a fantastic taste with high protein maybe some kind of a lower net carb product that would just be better and that's what I did. And again I'm I you know me as a as a a sort of an operator I'm very transparent and that's how you got to be with the with the consumers it's like oh man that was not really my intent my intent was to have a great tasting chip and it just so happens it's high in protein that's what I really wanted so my first go around we missed we missed it we we got we were fast into the market we got a lot of traction we got into a lot of great retailers a lot of great retailers but the consumer market was basically telling me we don't these are the these aren't great like they're okay I get it like it's high in protein it's better for for me than my tortilla chips I like but they're not that good I mean like come on you know that hurts I mean like like like that's how you also know if you really want to do this or any business like where it pains you like it like physically pains you when a customer or consumer says something negative about your product or brand or whatever so I went back to the drawing boards uh and this is even when people are like ah you shouldn't even do it and like maybe just cut it and no no because I wanted I wanted to do this I will years or whatever there's still nobody has nailed this thing until now until now I took six months and I reformulated our chips and and we have a cracker now and they're delicious. There they are delicious. And I don't say that as an as an operator right or our team or whatever it may be like you know I look to our team and who's building this with us and this is what we do and we we're passionate. No this is coming from hundreds and hundreds probably into this thousands now of samples that have gone out and we have a phenomenal product that now has a little less protein and a little more carbohydrates but it's still a phenomenal tasting tortilla like chip that has 12 grams of protein five grams of fiber and I want to I'm gonna take this thing on a rocket ship dude I want to I want to build a gigantic brand gigantic all around similar missions than previous businesses we want to we want to create phenomenal snack products for multiple consumer groups that all have to do with living a healthier lifestyle so it can be fitness it can be families it can be um you know those who have medical issues you know they need a little more a little more protein um my kids eat it I mean like this can go wide mass wide mass um all while giving back so we've got a the similar we have a a a program that's involved with you know how we're gonna be giving back to local uh youth communities and so that's what we're doing now and and and the reality is I'm gonna be focused probably a majority on the I1 organics snack business that that's what that's what I'm gonna be focused on. Awesome well that sounds it's a it's a great journey man and it sounds uh obviously your enthusiasm is um is contagious towards it how do people where where do people go if they want to try it or if they want to contact you um yeah where do people where do you send people right now the new formulation because there's still some old stuff out out in in some retailers that we're slowly but surely sort of you know uh uh cleaning out but the new stuff is on our website at i1organics.com or on amazon they'll get the new stuff and then we have the crackers for instance already uh launching uh next month at uh a few hundred vitamin shop locations um wegmans out in the east coast is gonna have our new sea salt um in january uh there's there's there's a lot but for now we we focus on amazon and i1organics and uh uh and and what i would say is for if if there are people who are listening to this and they're like hey but you know what I wonder if mark can hook me up yes I'll hook you up I'll hook you up I'll send you a f I'll send you a free bag email me like literally email me which is uh msamuel at i1organics.com I will personally send you a free bag awesome I'll hit you up I'll do that right now good cool well mark you uh brother you got a ton of energy man I really appreciate it is there uh anything else you want to leave our listeners with before we uh before we conclude this I think that's it man I'm glad to see that you're doing your thing um you know I'm I I I I listened to uh one previous I think you uh you uh did uh you had one with John right yeah yep John um so did you have one with with John Birch?

Yeah that's right john birch sorry I've done that 30s this is my 30s I know sure yeah yeah do you know John hey do you know John yeah John um so so anyway yeah anytime you want to you need anything from me dude you know to hit me up I'll send I'll send you a bunch of product for your uh for your office too with some of your associates that's that's great thank you mark it's been a pleasure man I'm sure uh you and I will be in touch and uh yeah go find them guys later buddy hey fitness fans don't leave yet this is Eric Malzone your host and I have an extremely special offer just for you if you go to fitnessmarketingalliance.com forward slash assessment you can claim your complimentary digital marketing audit are you a modern fitness professional do you have some sort of online presence do you have a sneaking suspicion that your website is not performing optimally and therefore costing you money well this is how you start to find out all the details just like fitness you need to start with an audit and objective assessment to go to fitnessmarketingalliance.com forward slash assessment cloud the form and you will have it to you within 72 hours you will cover your overall site performance rank from zero to 100 how you rank your chosen keywords like search engine optimization your website traffic history over the last six months the edit flows of a four to finish your website speed which is highly relevant to people coming to your website and out of the topic as a four too slow your social media presence your petitive analysis and much much more so this is just a tip for which it is the starting point for building your online business. So please take advantage of it for offering because we feel it's deeply important to you and the industry overall and you can claim it by going to fitnessmarketingalliance.com forward slash assessment do it today do it right now don't hesitate this offer won't last forever so thank you for listening greatly appreciate it if you ever need to reach me hit me up Eric at fitnessmarketingalliance dot com and I'll be talking to you very very soon