2019 was one of the worst years of my life.
Why?
Greed…
Money has long been touted as the key to happiness. We have heard the phrase, “money can’t buy happiness,” but many people still believe that if they just had more money, they would be happier.
However, research shows that the link between money and happiness is not as strong as we once thought. Numerous studies have found that once our basic needs are met, more money does not necessarily lead to more happiness. In fact, some studies suggest that people who focus too much on money may actually be less happy.
So, if money doesn’t buy happiness, what does?
Serving others.
When we focus on serving others and making a positive impact in their lives, we often experience a sense of fulfillment and happiness that money cannot provide. Research shows that people who engage in volunteer work or other forms of service report higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction.
This concept of serving others leading to happiness is evident in my story, when I experienced this significant shift in mindset. In 2019, I was focused on revenue and profit, believing that the success of the business was directly tied to these factors (ironically it was also the year I left the Backroom aka Capitalists Pigs).
We decided to put our money toward expanding off Amazon and on to our website. We dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars to build out and advertise our website, but we did so at the detriment of our profit. I kept telling myself that we would be more profitable next month, and then the next month.
However, over time, I realized that this approach was not sustainable and we were no longer enjoying what we were doing. We even almost sold our company for nowhere near what it was worth (we actually sold for over double just a year and a half later).
Fed up with how 2019 went, I shifted our focus from revenue and profit to simply serving our customers and providing an exceptional experience.. We stopped the bleeding by cutting our website team, significantly reducing Google and Facebook ads, and we just started to truly listen to our customers’ needs.
And we took a stand.
As western medicine trained doctors, we were accustomed to the traditional ways of seeing a problem, diagnosing a problem, and putting a prescription on the problem. After our infertility battle from 2015 to 2017, where western medicine failed us and eastern medicine succeeded (we’ve had 3 kids), we started educating on how you don’t need your prescription medications and if you do our free eight-week dry eye bootcamp, then you will feel better.
This created raving fans.
The craziest part? The challenge didn’t really sell our products. It just educated our customers on a healthier lifestyle.
As a result, the business began to thrive. Customers returned time and time again (40% repeat customer rate), became raving fans, and even recommended the business to their friends and family. In fact, the business was doing so well that potential buyers started to take notice and began approaching us to buy the business.
But we didn’t feel the urge to sell anymore. We were happy, content, and fulfilled with the work we were doing. We had found a way to provide value and create joy for others, which in turn, brought us joy. Did we sell eventually? Yes we did, because we received our dream offer and it was a strategic sale.
This helped us realize that the key to success was not solely in focusing on the bottom line but instead, on the people – the customers, the team, and the community. By pouring energy into our relationships, we had created a ripple effect of positivity that had ultimately boosted our profits, from $20,000 in 2019 to $600,000 in 2020 (a 30x increase).
The Lesson
This highlights the important lesson that focusing on serving others can lead to greater happiness, and ultimately, even more success. When we shift our focus from ourselves to others, we start to see the world from a different perspective. We become more mindful, empathetic, and ultimately, more fulfilled.
So, let us all take a step back and ask ourselves, “How can I serve others today?” This could be something as simple as holding the door open for someone or reaching out to a friend in need. For your business, I recommend looking up your best, most profitable customers and calling them on the phone (I know it sounds crazy, but we did it). I was on a call or zoom call everyday (weekday) from 9am to 4pm daily for two straight months.
Start small, but be intentional about looking for ways to make an impact in the lives of others. As we focus on serving others, we may just find that happiness and success come naturally.
Action Items
- Look up your 20 best customers by revenue.
- Give them a call and ask them one question: “What can I do to help you today?”
- Here was my exact script:
“Hey {FIRST NAME}. Dr. Travis Zigler, CEO and founder of Eye Love. We make the Heyedrate Lid and Lash Cleanser.”
- PAUSE for them to catch up.
- “I just wanted to call and say thank you for ordering and I wanted to see if there is anything I can help you with today.”
- This usually led to them ordering more over the phone and me educating them on all the other products we offered, serving them more.
- Go call 20 customers right now 🙂
About the Author
Dr. Travis Zigler is the CEO and founder of Profitable Pineapple Ads. He is an O.G. of the Backroom (the original Capitalist Pigs NFT) and joined back in 2016. Following Ryan’s 12 Month to $1 Million formula, Dr. Travis and his wife, Dr. Jenna Zigler, built and sold their company, Eye Love, for multi-seven figures.
He now runs a multi-seven figure agency (following the same formula) helping great people do good shit. He does this by helping them scale Amazon sales by creating a moat around their Amazon listings through Amazon PPC, listing optimization, Amazon DSP, Google Ads, and building an audience. Profitable Pineapple Ads also has an inventory software and analysis team, Profitable Pineapple Express, and helps nonprofits increase donations (check out how a nonprofit can help your ecommerce brand here).
