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If you haven’t run across the gentleman I'm interviewing today before, well… you’re in for a treat.
My guest is Dave Lindenbaum, and for a long time, I thought his name was actually Dave Kombucha. Yes, like the tea drink. ?♀️ I mean, it wasn’t too far off – he did intentionally try to use the word everywhere on the internet because he has a Kombucha kit that he sells online. That’s what I brought him on the podcast for – to really open you up to the power of creating kits and experiences within your products.
Dave Lindenbaum wasn't a natural-born entrepreneur.
But let’s back up a bit first because I think it’s super important to point out that Dave Lindenbaum is just like us. He wasn’t a natural-born entrepreneur. In fact, he went to college and spent 2 years working in the financial industry before he realized the corporate life wasn’t his jam.
Eventually, he took the leap, and the rest is history.
You know, I’ve said countless times that opportunities are everywhere; you just have to be looking for them.
Dave Kombucha would have forever been Dave Lindenbaum if it wasn’t for keeping his eyes wide open and realizing the opportunity when it was in front of him.
When Dave was a waiter in Los Angeles, he met a guy that had just started a tea company. This was the opportunity.
The company had no employees, and it would be hard-pressed to even be called a “company” at that point. But Dave took some risk (hello, entrepreneurship) and seized the opportunity.
The Kombucha Solution
Tea was certainly something he learned about while he was there, but it was his experience with a certain type of tea – Kombucha – that changed his life (and what people think his name is). You see, Dave had a problem that he needed to solve, acid reflux. You probably know several people that suffer from it, or maybe even you do. And like those people that you probably know, Dave was trying all kinds of things, including prescription drugs, with little luck.
Then comes that experience with Kombucha. After just 2 weeks of drinking some each day, his acid reflux was gone. Poof!
The basic business lesson here that Dave was unpacking was a solution to a problem means you are right around the corner from a profitable business.
He solved his personal problem of acid reflux and knew there were TONS of others suffering from the same thing. It made sense for him to test the waters and see if anyone wanted to buy it.
To say his beginnings were humble might be an understatement. Dave started selling his Kombucha kits on Craigslist and hand-delivering them. Yes, hand-delivering them. Scalable? I think not. Product validation? Yup!
I thought it was so awesome when he shared that one of the biggest takeaways he had from working with this guy was “taking your flag and sticking it in the sand and doing it and owning it”.
Don’t you agree that this is what it takes?! Plunging your flag into the sand and saying “I’m doing this!”
Dave Lindenbaum created an ecommerce empire with DIY kits.
That Kombucha business transformed into a whole company that creates and sells DIY Kits for all kinds of stuff.
While that’s cool and all, I think what you really need to focus on is what he shared about building your personality, desires, and passion into your business.
He dropped this gem: “Whatever your passion is, it can be expressed through your business”.
He considers himself an entertainer and performer. So, you might be wondering, well… how does he intertwine that with selling DIY kits?!
Well, the magic of marketing loves catchy videos and songs, and that’s exactly what Dave pumps out to satisfy the entertainer part.
Have you weaved your passions into your business? I think you should start looking for ways if you haven’t. Remember, you're in this for the long haul. Make sure you are satisfying some of your desires besides just making money.
Ok, moving on now.
Since Dave Lindenbaum is the Kit MASTER, I wanted him to go into how he puts these things together. That's because most of us avoid anything like this because it seems difficult with too many moving parts.
He broke it down into a few steps for us that will apply to any product you are creating – kit or not:
Step 1: Have some bumpers. Aka: Pick your lane and stay in it.
Step 2: Leverage other peoples' marketplaces for research.
Step 3: Look at competitors' reviews – good and bad.
Step 4: Go to the question and answer section.
Step 5: Actually buy the other products.
Pro Tip: Dave shares his bridge page strategy to get people from Amazon onto your email list. If you want to know how you’ll want to go listen to the podcast around the 30-minute mark.
Additional Resources…
If you want to check out the amazing kits that Dave Lindenbaum has created and see the experience of his kits first-hand, you can check them out at: https://go.diygiftkits.com/becauseican
