How Ashley Rogers Built A $9M Brand In Just 4 Years 🚀 E98

Summary

The Money Mondays: How Ashley Rogers Built A $9M Brand In Just 4 Years (E98)
Release Date: December 2, 2024
Host: Dan Fleyshman
Guest: Ashley Rogers

---

Introduction: Welcome Ashley Rogers

In the 98th episode of "The Money Mondays," host Dan Fleyshman welcomes entrepreneur Ashley Rogers to discuss her remarkable journey in building multiple successful brands within the consumer packaged goods (CPG) space. Filmed outside Dan's expansive 26-acre ranch in Temecula, California, the episode delves deep into Ashley's entrepreneurial strategies, her ventures from meal prep to Sprinkles Cupcakes, and her insights into the business world.

Ashley Rogers: From Humble Beginnings to CPG Success

Ashley begins with a candid introduction, highlighting her unconventional path to entrepreneurship.

Ashley Rogers [00:05]: "I barely graduated high school. So I feel like, but that's like, that's in my blood. That's like in my DNA, you know, it's like I figure stuff out and I learn off real life experience."

Her entrepreneurial journey kicked off while working as a cocktail server at the Hard Rock in Vegas. The experience ignited her desire to create her own ventures, leading her to launch a meal prep company focused on healthy eating before it became a trend. This venture was subsequently sold to one of her employees, setting the stage for her next success.

Building a Brand: From Buff Bake to Sprinkles CPG

Ashley recounts her transition from meal prep to founding Buff Bake, a protein cookie brand that achieved significant retail presence, including major retailers like GNC and Vitamin Shoppe.

Ashley Rogers [02:07]: "And then started my next brand was Buff Bake, a protein cookie. I barely graduated high school, so it taught me everything that I knew about business, sales, marketing, logistics, everything."

After four years, she exited Buff Bake and co-founded Spudsy, raising over $9 million and scaling the brand to 20,000 retail locations nationwide. Recently, she sold Spudsy and is now at the helm of Sprinkles CPG, innovating with products like cupcake cups—a fusion of chocolate bars and cupcake frosting.

Ashley Rogers [03:16]: "Which is basically a peanut butter cup, but instead of nut butter inside, it's cupcake frosting."

The Crucial Role of Clear Business Partnerships and Agreements

Dan and Ashley engage in a playful yet insightful discussion about the importance of clearly defined business agreements. Dan illustrates the pitfalls of assuming roles and equity distributions with a hypothetical lemonade stand scenario.

Ashley Rogers [08:04]: "Exactly. That's why they should. I thought you started our company 50-50. That's what I was assuming this whole time."

Their conversation underscores the necessity of formal agreements, such as Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) or Scopes of Work (SOW), to prevent misunderstandings and ensure equitable partnerships.

Navigating the Competitive Food and Beverage Industry

Ashley shares her strategic approach to identifying market gaps and launching innovative products. With Spudsy, she pinpointed a niche in the vegetable snack market by introducing sweet potato puffs, differentiating her product from others.

Ashley Rogers [10:47]: "It's really important to be innovative and create something that's different. So that's what the sweet potato puff was."

She emphasizes the significance of a strong data-driven story when pitching to major retailers, ensuring that her products stand out in a crowded market.

Ashley Rogers [11:36]: "One, because hopefully it's not another me-too product. It's something innovative and different."

Ashley also discusses the challenges of maintaining product performance across various retail outlets, highlighting the complexities of logistics, distribution, and retailer relationships.

Investing in Oneself and Strategic Team Building

A key takeaway from the episode is the importance of self-investment and building a competent team. Ashley advocates for entrepreneurs to leverage their strengths by hiring experts in areas where they might lack expertise.

Ashley Rogers [25:20]: "I also think it's really important to invest in the right people. So it's not only things, it's like yourself, but it's also the right people."

Dan adds that outsourcing time-consuming tasks like accounting can free up entrepreneurs to focus on growth-driving activities such as sales and marketing.

Dan Fleyshman [26:37]: "But how much are you worth? Like would you have you worth more than five grand a month?"

Successful Exit Strategies: Knowing When to Move On

Ashley highlights the nuanced decision-making process involved in exiting a business. It involves assessing company distribution, market saturation, and personal readiness to move forward.

Ashley Rogers [33:18]: "The timing of it, I feel like, is an art in itself. But I mean, as a founder, you just, I mean, you just know... I'm a big gut instinct person, you know, you just go with your gut."

This segment emphasizes the blend of strategic planning and intuitive judgment necessary for successful business exits.

Incorporating Charity and Authenticity: Building a Purpose-Driven Brand

The conversation shifts to the role of charity and authenticity in business, with Ashley expressing a strong desire to integrate charitable efforts into her ventures.

Ashley Rogers [35:47]: "I feel like, for me, investing in myself is everything because, I mean, I believe in myself and I know that I'm going to execute and bring something to life. So that's like literally how I invest, as I invest in myself, and every single time, it's paid off."

She also touches on offering equity to employees as a form of empowerment and investment, fostering a sense of ownership and commitment within her teams.

Ashley Rogers [35:17]: "But all my employees, they get equity in my. So I guess you can look at that as like a charity piece of it."

Authenticity is presented as a cornerstone of her business philosophy, crucial for genuine consumer connections and brand loyalty.

Ashley Rogers [40:55]: "Authenticity is everything... People nowadays are so smart that if you are not 100% authentic... people see that and they don't invest in you."

Legacy and Wealth: Planning for the Future

In a thought-provoking exchange, Dan and Ashley discuss the concepts of legacy and wealth, pondering how future generations will perceive and manage inherited wealth.

Ashley Rogers [36:21]: "I would say at least half of it... I want to give some to charity and the things that I'm passionate about... Enough that my kids and their kids are set for life."

This segment delves into the responsibilities that come with wealth and the importance of thoughtful inheritance planning.

Closing Thoughts: Embracing Authenticity and Strategic Growth

As the episode winds down, both Dan and Ashley reiterate the importance of authenticity, strategic investment, and clear business practices. They encourage listeners to engage in open discussions about money and financial strategies within their personal and professional circles.

Dan Fleyshman [43:09]: "Make sure to have these important discussions with your friends, family and followers about money. Because we all grew up thinking it's rude to talk about money. I think it's rude to not talk about it."

Ashley promotes her online presence and upcoming programs aimed at educating aspiring entrepreneurs about navigating the CPG landscape.

Ashley Rogers [41:31]: "I am Ashley Rogers. And then there are Sprinkles Cupcakes and Sprinkles Chocolate on Instagram."

Key Takeaways

1. Real-Life Experience Matters: Practical, hands-on experience is invaluable and often outweighs formal education in entrepreneurship.
2. Clear Agreements are Essential: Defining roles, equity, and responsibilities upfront prevents future disputes and misunderstandings.
3. Innovate to Stand Out: Identifying market gaps and creating unique products are crucial in the competitive CPG industry.
4. Invest in Yourself and Your Team: Personal development and strategic hiring empower business growth and operational efficiency.
5. Authenticity Builds Trust: Being genuine fosters stronger consumer relationships and brand loyalty.
6. Strategic Exits Require Timing and Intuition: Knowing when to sell or move on is as much an art as it is a science.
7. Legacy Planning is Important: Thoughtful inheritance and wealth management ensure long-term family and charitable impacts.

---

For those eager to learn from Ashley Rogers' journey and gain deeper insights into building successful CPG brands, following her on Instagram at @IAmAshleyRogers and keeping an eye out for her upcoming masterminds and courses is highly recommended.

Listen to the full episode here and join the conversation about money, investments, and authentic entrepreneurship every Monday on "The Money Mondays."

Transcript

[Ashley Rogers]

Real life experience. You need the real life experience. Did you go to college?

[Dan]

No, I tried.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah. I. I barely graduated high school. Yeah. So I feel like to me, but that's like, that's in my blood. That's like in my DNA, you know, it's like I figure stuff out and I. And I learn off real life experience.

[Dan]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Money Mondays. We are here parked outside of the wild jungle, our 26 acre ranch here in Temecula, California. We have a special guest that drove out here from Newport Beach, California, and she has been involved in some amazing brands in the CPG space, the retail space, and the food space, ranging from Smudzy, the brand that she helped start to now Sprinkles Cupcakes. And the new division of what they're offering that not enough people know about. And hopefully as of today, everyone's gonna start talking about it. Everyone's gonna start wanting to buy it because Sprinkles is an iconic brand. It's just so cool. Oh, Roger's handed me. Oh, man. We're just gonna dive right into it.

[Ashley Rogers]

I know. Should we set these up?

[Dan]

Absolutely, please. So as you guys know, the way it works here is we're gonna keep the episode to under 40 minutes because the average workout is 40 minutes and the average commute to work is 40 minutes. So this episode will be between 34 to 38 minutes for your listening pleasure. So without further ado, we're gonna have Ms. Ashley Rogers give you a quick two minute bio so we get straight to the money.

[Ashley Rogers]

Cool. Hi, I'm Ashley. I was born and raised in Vegas. I'm a founder. So I started my founder entrepreneurial journey. Well, I guess my first job, I worked as a cocktail server at the Hard Rock in Vegas.

[Dan]

Oh, really?

[Ashley Rogers]

It was rehab. It's like this famous pool party.

[Dan]

First place ever gambled in Hard Rock.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah, I. Crazy stories. Crazy gambling stories I've seen. But realized quickly. I never wanted to work for anyone else. I was raised by an entrepreneur and my dad, so I, I knew I wanted to do my own thing. Made a bunch of money being a cocktail server. Traveled the world for 30 days from the money that I saved. And when I came back, I'm like, I'm starting my own thing. Started a meal prep company making healthy meals before meal prep was cool.

[Dan]

Right.

[Ashley Rogers]

To all the cocktail servers. Ended up selling that to one of my employees.

[Dan]

Nice.

[Ashley Rogers]

And then started my next brand was which was a brand called Buff Bake a protein cookie. I barely graduated high school, so it taught Me, everything that I knew about business, sales, marketing, logistics, everything. Grew that for four years. Got in major retailers like gnc Vitamin Shop, Sold that to my business partner, started it with five other people. Too many cooks in the kitchen. Wanted to do my own thing. And I knew that I was like, the magic in the brand. So 2018, started Spudsy, raised over $9 million for Spudsy, exited two weeks ago.

[Dan]

Two weeks ago.

[Ashley Rogers]

Two weeks ago.

[Dan]

Whoa. Okay.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah. And that, I mean, scaled that to 20,000 doors. NationW, my investors in Spudsy own Sprinkles Cupcakes. And so now I'm here. And I created Sprinkle cpg. So now I am running this baby. These are our cupcake cups. So when I first started, we started with chocolate bars. These are available in Walmart and Target nationwide. But I wanted. I really believe in innovation and finding, like, a white space in the market. So I wanted to create something that did not exist.

[Dan]

Yep.

[Ashley Rogers]

Which is the cupcake cup. So it's basically a peanut butter cup, but instead of nut butter inside, it's cupcake frosting.

[Dan]

Ooh.

[Ashley Rogers]

Do you want to try one?

[Dan]

Absolutely.

[Ashley Rogers]

Birthday cake, Double chocolate and red velvet.

[Dan]

All of them.

[Ashley Rogers]

Should we get some live on air feedback?

[Dan]

I can't explain how many red velvet cupcakes I've had at the Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills on that Santa Monica Boulevard.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah.

[Dan]

Oh, my gosh. If you check the cameras, I've been there a lot. Okay.

[Ashley Rogers]

It's definitely our number one flavor.

[Dan]

There's a lot to unpack here, so let's walk through. So as you guys know, we cover three core topics. How to make money, how to invest money, how to give it away to charity. On the make money side, by the way, Buff Bake, I used to know so many influencers that would just post about it organically.

[Ashley Rogers]

They did.

[Dan]

I don't know if you were even paying them, because I just saw people.

[Ashley Rogers]

I wasn't.

[Dan]

They were just talking about it paying. Like, I was paying a bunch of influencers. And I kept seeing your brand over and over and over, and people were just, like, eating it, posting about it. We'd be at, like, the fitness conventions and fitcon and all these places, and there your product was.

[Ashley Rogers]

There it is.

[Dan]

There it is. There it is. And I just saw it so often. I was always wondering, like, who was behind it. And there you are.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah, here I am. I feel like. So when I started that in 2014, I feel like social media was completely different than, like, an influencer. Wasn't even a thing. It was just more organic, where you could send a random person a product and they post it. And now it's, like, turned into, obviously, a big business for sure. Yeah.

[Dan]

Okay, so when you go from, all right, I'm going to start my own meal prep company. You sell it. How do you decide? Okay, I'm going to start buff bake. Like, what was the thing? Like, what made you click? Like, this is the market I want to go for.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah. I think starting in food. So it was easy to start. Right. You could start a meal prep company in your kitchen. So it was just an easy thing to start. And then buff bake was the same way. And since I was already in food with the meal prep, it was just like an easy transition to do something else in food.

[Dan]

Got it.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

And so when you mentioned the too many chefs in the kitchen, when someone out there is thinking about having a business partner, I like when someone has one business partner, maybe sometimes two.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

Walk me through what happens when you get to three and four. Like, can you have five people involved in a company?

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah. I think when you are going in business, because I agree, like, I wish I had a business partner. And think like, in Spudsy, I did that solo. I wish I had a business partner. But I do have team members within the company who own equity who are like, business partners. But I would say the business. The. My biggest advice is, like, go in with clearly defined roles. So you know what? Either which what you're doing and what I'm doing. Right. Because if that's not clear from day one, like, in writing, operating agreement in hand, that's when shit starts getting muddy.

[Dan]

So I'm going to give you guys a real world example, and then I'm going to let you guys guess and what your thoughts are. So there's two things. One's called a scope of work, an SOW or an MOU Memorandum of understanding. So that's what Ashley's talking about. Dan's going to do this. Ashley's going to do this. Let me give you a quick example. Let's say Ashley and I, we hit it off today and we're like, you know what? We're going to start a lemonade stand company together.

[Ashley Rogers]

Do it.

[Dan]

We start our first lemonade stand right here in Temecula, California. That lemonade stand crushes it. We open it up, and it's called A and D. So it says Ashley and Dan, but doesn't actually say it there. Just says A and D. We didn't want to call it DNA because that's, you know, so original.

[Ashley Rogers]

We're all about originality.

[Dan]

So A and D lemonade standstars Temecula, California, we start doing like 1000 bucks a day in sales. We decided to open up in Vegas because she's from Vegas. We open up one in Vegas, then two, then three, then four in Las Vegas. We have five locations of A and D lemonade stand. Oh, my gosh. Ashley gets a call from Gary Vaynerchuk. He's like, hey, Ashley, I've been watching what you've done with Spudsy and Sprinkles. I want to offer you the CEO role of my overall conglomerate. And I'm going to pay you millions of dollars. I need you to travel the world. Will you do it? And I'll give you equity. Ashley says yes. Doesn't even mention to me, that's fine. She's her own woman. She can do whatever she wants. She takes this role getting paid millions of dollars to travel the world to work with garyvee. I go open up location number six. She's on the group chat, so she's helping me open up location number seven. But she doesn't really responding because now she's kind of busy.

[Ashley Rogers]

And you become better.

[Dan]

I'm getting a little frustrated already.

[Ashley Rogers]

You become resentful over this.

[Dan]

I open up location 8, 9 and 10 in Seattle because a friend of mine out there, I open up location 11, 12, 13 to 14 in Phoenix, Arizona. I haven't heard from her in a few weeks. Now she's really busy. Obviously she's scaling and building Gary B's company. Open up location 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 in Los Angeles, San Diego, Ontario. Boom, boom, boom. Salt Lake City. A year goes by actually, like, you know, I'm actually done, Dan. I'm coming back and I've got 64 locations of a and D lemonade stand all over the country. Does Ashley still on 50% of 64 locations? Does Ashley?

[Ashley Rogers]

I do. Because from day one, we had an agreement where. Oh, you're saying we didn't have an agreement.

[Dan]

That's why they should have an agreement for what?

[Ashley Rogers]

Exactly. That's why they should. I thought you. We started our company 50. 50 is what I was assuming this whole time.

[Dan]

That's the problem.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep. You need the agreement. We assumed you need the agreement.

[Dan]

I assume you had 90%. You assume you had 50%. No one knows because we didn't write it down.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

And then you left me to go work for Gary B. Understandable. And you come back do you own 50% of one location? Six locations? 64 locations? I could argue either side. If we went to court, I think I could argue for your side or my side, because you're like, well, I'm the A and D. And I'm like, yeah, but I. You don't even know. You don't even know the addresses of most of these locations. You couldn't be a part of it. And you're like, yeah, but I'm the brand. Look how famous I got working with Gary. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. All of that could have been resolved doing what Ashley said. A memorandum of understanding. Dan's going to do this, Ashley's going to do that. And that removes so much.

[Ashley Rogers]

This is our equity percentages, and this is the roles that each of us play. And one of. If one of us wants to go do this, maybe the equity changes.

[Dan]

Yes. Yes, I'm in.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yes.

[Dan]

Have fun arguing about that in the comment section. Who owns 50% of those 64 locations?

[Ashley Rogers]

I see it happening all the time, though, for sure. Yeah.

[Dan]

It's a tragedy because we make assumptions and try to be brain readers and think that other people can read our minds of like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna do this, or she's gonna do this, or. And there's also what's called pillow talk. Then you're sitting with your husband or wife or best friend at having drinks, and they're like, oh, no, you built that brand.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

But Ash is out there in New York City with Gary Vee and her friends are like, Dan's leveraging you because you're becoming famous on TV because of Gary. Like, he's only opening those locations because of you. And you're like, yeah, I should own more.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

All these things are happening in our.

[Ashley Rogers]

Mind because then you have your people on your side and my people on our side. And when I'm thinking in my mind and you, it's just like a show.

[Dan]

Yes.

[Ashley Rogers]

Clearly defined from day one.

[Dan]

Yes.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

Memorandum of understanding or scope of work? All right, next question. As we go from Buff Bake and now you get into Spudsy.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

What was the market there? What'd you see in the potato snack market? Why'd you decide to do that? And why decide to be a solopreneur?

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah, Well, I think I was maybe scarred a little bit from the Buff Bake, which is why I wanted to do my own thing. But I do wish I would have had a partner in it. It just didn't happen that way. Because, I mean, I know what I'M good at. And I'm obviously not good at everything. No one's good at everything. Right. And I really lean into my strengths and my weaknesses. I find people that. That are really good at those things to then run and operate them. Started Spudsy because I saw a white space in the market. So I saw all these vegetables popping up that revolved around chickpeas, cauliflower, weird vegetables that weren't appealing to me. To me, it's really important to be innovative and create something that's different. So that's what the sweet potato puff was. It was. There's a hundred puffs in the category, but there wasn't a sweet potato one.

[Dan]

Got it.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

And so when you start approaching retailers, someone out there that's watching is like, I want to get into retail stores. I want to be like Ashley and be in 20,000 stores. Like, you got to. How do they get into their first one, two, three stores?

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep. So I. It's very important, one, to have a plan. Right. And to build a story. So getting into your first store, I say it's normally a local store or it's one store. And it's really important to get into that store. Dive deep, create a data story, because you want to be able to have some kind of story. To go to the Whole Foods and the Kroger's and the Sprouts and say, hey, this is why you need my brand. You need my brand. One, because hopefully it's not another me too product. It's something innovative and different. And two, it's performing really well in these smaller retailers that I'm in. That's why you should take it in. And you're a larger retailer.

[Dan]

So someone gets into those first few stores, how can they nurture that store? How can they make them feel like a lot of times people don't realize you're either paying for merchandising displays, you're paying for the discounts that happen. You're paying for chargebacks. If someone wants to return the goods to you, there's a lot of money that goes into. Once you get into the retailer, where can they learn about that stuff? Do you have coaching or masterminds or, like, what's. How do people understand this stuff? Because I grew up selling my energy drinks. We were in 55,000 stores, but I lived and breathed it for half a decade of just like, schlepping around the country carrying cases of drinks in the stores and like, yeah, will you buy my product?

[Ashley Rogers]

And like, yeah. It's funny that you Say that, Tim. So it's, it's. I feel like not a lot of people teach you how to do those things. And I've spent thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultants and advisors, basically, and real life experience. That's basically how I learned how to do all those things. But I also created this little program, it's like a mastermind, teaching people, A to Z how to launch these products into retail. So from working with manufacturers to getting into retail, to working with distributors and brokers and the whole gamut, because I feel like not a lot of people teach you the A to Z of launching a product. So I'm in the process of building out that as well.

[Dan]

Very good. Yeah, people need it.

[Ashley Rogers]

Side hustle. I. Why I do Sprinkles full time.

[Dan]

Yep. I get bombarded with these questions all the time. That's why I was wondering if someone actually can teach it that's lived and breathe it. There's totally a lot of people that can teach things on social media that haven't lived and breathing and got into 20,000 stores like you have, and now even more obviously with sprinkles and other brands that you've been part of. But like, the information, Barry, is hard when it comes to retail.

[Ashley Rogers]

It is, yeah.

[Dan]

Who's teaching it? Like, who's talking?

[Ashley Rogers]

No, no one's talking about it. No one's teaching it. And unfortunately, the learning lessons that you have to learn to learn are so expensive.

[Dan]

Like, they're crippling, sometimes crippling.

[Ashley Rogers]

Brand ruining.

[Dan]

Right.

[Ashley Rogers]

A lot of the time, especially if you're a small brand that's not well funded. So that's my goal, and that's what I'm really passionate about, is like teaching people those mistakes, like through some type of consulting, mastermind, subscription program is what I'm trying to build out right now.

[Dan]

There's been times I've watched brands go into retail stores and then they don't sell through. And then when they get removed from that retail store.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah.

[Dan]

All of a sudden you get 300 grand with a product back and you don't have 300 grand to either pay for it or cover it or resell it, or you can't resell it because it's damaged or whatever. Like, what do you do? Like, this happens at Walmart a lot, by the way, if you ship to Walmart and your hangers, I had in clothing, I said a clothing brand, the hangers were the wrong way, they would charge you 25 cents per unit. Well, think about my margin on, you know, $6 t shirt. I'm only making 60 cents. So if I had to pay them back 25 cents, they want an actual check, by the way. So if I ship them 16,000 shirts at 25 cents a unit, I've all of a sudden got to pay them four grand on that order.

[Ashley Rogers]

Mm.

[Dan]

I only made eight grand or 12 grand on the order. Plus I got to pay sales reps, commission. I gotta pay distribution, shipping, logistics. Logistics, taxes, fees, marketing.

[Ashley Rogers]

Like, it's like broker fee. Yeah.

[Dan]

Now, what if I ship them a million shirts?

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah.

[Dan]

What if I ship them, you know?

[Ashley Rogers]

And a lot of times you don't find out until last minute. They're like, you're discontinued, your products discontinued, and we're shipping it back to you next month.

[Dan]

Also if you. Again, Walmart as an example, Costco, Target, similar concepts, they run like an actual machine morning, noon and night. When you think about they're doing millions and millions and millions of dollars a day in revenue, some of them doing that. Tens of millions a day in revenue. If your truck is not at the bay, and they have like 70 bays or 100 bays, if your truck is the wrong bay, you don't get to get delivered. Or you got to pay a fee for them to, like, replace you, a misplacement fee. So if you're a base 70 and you're supposed to be a base 72, your day is ruined.

[Ashley Rogers]

Totally.

[Dan]

And again, your margin could be gone in one shot.

[Ashley Rogers]

And it's all those little things that no one tells you. Right. Like, even distributors. There's so many hidden fees, like, in distributors. Because I think a lot of people think I take this bag and I just send it directly to Target. That's not the way that it works. You have to send it to a distributor, and that distributor distributes your product. But to your point, like, the margin is so slim that creating a product that has a good margin from the start is probably the most important thing.

[Dan]

Right. So in my beverage days, I had 43 distributors. We're in 55,000 stores. The average distributor was shipping to 1200 to 2400 stores per distributor. Half of them were Budweiser. Sorry, half of them were Budweiser. The rest were Coors, Miller Pepsi, and then Southern Wine Spirits. I had to Travel to all 43 distributors. I had to nurture them. I had to. I was doing what's called ride alongs, where, let's say Ashley was working at Budweiser. I would get in the truck with, like, an actual semi truck, like Budweiser truck. And I would go in there at 6 in the morning and drive with them till 4pm and go visit 20, 25, 30, 40 stores in one day just to make that sales rep like.

[Ashley Rogers]

Me, build a relationship.

[Dan]

Right? And here's why Budweiser is there to sell Budweiser. That's their main job. But it's kind of easy for them because they don't have to even ask the retailer. They can just place the products into the cooler and then charge them later. But lots of brands want Budweiser to distribute them. Milk, water, soda, energy, every juice, every category wants Budweiser to distribute them. Because Budweiser is in a gazillion stores. Why would that sales driver care about my energy compared to the other 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90, 100 brands that are inside that same Budweise warehouse? The relationship that Ashley just talked about.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah, what you being in that car with him for all day long, building a relationship is going to make him want to push your brand to all of the retailer partners that he goes into over these big guys.

[Dan]

Right?

[Ashley Rogers]

Because really like the human. And a lot of people don't want the Budweisers to win. They want these startup companies to win with these true human founders behind them.

[Dan]

Yes. So over the last three years, I've been investing a lot in food and beverage brands and consumer products because they have interesting multiples when they exit. When you get it right, when you get Spuds, you know, 20,000 stores, you stand out versus the hundreds of other brands, thousands of other brands that are only in X amount of stores or not any stores because it's hard especially to get into at scale at 20,000 stores. Why do you like the food and beverage space? Why do you like this, the CPG world?

[Ashley Rogers]

I like it. Just I'm so passionate about food. I do think the exits are interesting too, but I think we all know that those are anomalies. Like 0.1% of these brands actually exit. But I mean I've done it a few times, so I feel like I do have that formula now. I just, I love food. I think it's, it's fun. I love the packaging. I love putting the branding and the idea and doing the manufacturing. It's just what I'm passionate about.

[Dan]

I'm going to give you guys a fun fact. The reason that you see a lot of food and beverage brands get acquired is because for a large company, like the really big ones that you see, Procter and Gamble, Budweiser, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Sprite, those Type of brands that you see all of a sudden, like, why did that company buy RXBar for $640 million or $600 million? Why did they buy that snack company for 120 million, et cetera. Here's why. For a large conglomerate, it takes them on average $75 million to start this brand.

[Ashley Rogers]

They move so slow.

[Dan]

Takes them two years and $75 million if they want to start their own version of sprinkles cupcake cups. So they would much rather buy them for anywhere from 50 to 200 million dollars, save themselves two years. And they already know that it's almost free for them to buy. What do I mean by that? Let's say Budweiser buys sprinkles cupcake cups. You're like, that doesn't make sense. Why would they buy them? Well, Budweiser's already in, let's call it half a million stores. So if this brand is in 10,000 or 20,000, 30,000 stores, Budweiser can just place the products into a lot more retailers. So if they pay them 50 million, 100 million, 200 million, which sounds crazy for the brand that's only been around for 1, 2, 3, 4 years, they have overnight, overnight distribution.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

And so instead of them going spending 75 million to maybe make it work, like Ashley said, there's thousands of brands that don't work out. They can buy an already successful brand that's already doing 20 million, 30 million, 50 million, 100 million in sales, pay them a good multiple 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x 6x. But they're actually saving themselves money because they're saving themselves two years of time. Time headache, hiring teams, gambling, trying to figure out if it's going to work out compared to, oh, you're already doing millions of dollars with Spudsy. Great, I'll buy you. Proven in all these other stores.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

All right, let's talk about the investing side. Why should entrepreneurs and business owners invest into themselves and into their minds?

[Ashley Rogers]

I feel like for me, investing in myself is everything because, I mean, I believe in myself and I know that I'm going to execute and bring something to life. So that's like literally how I invest, as I invest in myself, and every single time, it's paid off.

[Dan]

So someone that's out there that wants to get into the food and brand space, I often tell people that they should go work for a brand because that's the real school. You can go to college, you can go to university, you can study online. But going to work for Ashley, for six months. You know, going to work in your office for two years and watching the way you move, watch the way you deal with the secretary, the buyer, the CEO, the sales rep, the investors, the partners, the media, the consultants, the lawyers, the accountants, like all the moving parts.

[Ashley Rogers]

Real life experience. You need the real life experience. Did you go to college? No.

[Dan]

I tried, yeah.

[Ashley Rogers]

I barely graduated high school. Yeah. So I feel like to me. But that's like, that's in my blood. That's like in my DNA, you know, it's like I figure stuff out and I. And I learn off real life expression, experience.

[Dan]

I tried to go to San Diego State University. So I was 17 and a half. And I saved up $43,000 during three years of high school working three different jobs. I was working at Qualcomm Stadium selling peanuts and Cracker Jacks, looking at Ruby's Diner with a sailor's cap on, and then working for oldie discount stockbrokers, working as an assistant there to the stockbroker. And then during those years, I was saving up, you know, 12 grand, 18 grand, 14 grand for the year, which is a ton of money. 15, 16, 17 years old, huge. Put together $43,000. And I thought that's what I was gonna use for San Diego State. Instead, I started printing T shirts in high school. Sold 100 shirts at lunch, which 15 bucks a shirt. So I sold 1500 bucks. I'm like, oh, my God, I'm a millionaire. This is it. That's it. I know. I know where I'm going now. Went to the clothing convention called Magic. And I wasn't even allowed to go in because I wasn't 18. You had to actually be 21. And that's where it all started. It all started from that moment. And I took the money that I.

[Ashley Rogers]

Had for school and invested it in yourself.

[Dan]

Yeah, into the brand. And got. Got two booths instead of one booth. I got 20ft instead of 10ft. I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna be a big dog here.

[Ashley Rogers]

Baller.

[Dan]

Yeah. I was right next to a brand called Fubu John. And the other side was Sean John. When Puff Daddy had first launched at the same time, 1999, the summer.

[Ashley Rogers]

Good brands to be sandwiched. Sandwiched in between.

[Dan]

They had like million dollar booths next to my little four thousand dollar booth. And. But that's the magic that happened. We ended up writing $1 million in orders only because. Well, the name was fun, but because.

[Ashley Rogers]

What was the name?

[Dan]

Who's your daddy? For 300 different products. So the buyers from all the major chain stores were hanging out in front of the FUBU booth. And so they were just like, oh, what's this funny brand? You know, a bunch of high school kids working at the booth. And we just started. And then Mervyn's, Kohl's, Dr. J's, Mr. Rags.

[Ashley Rogers]

That's a cool story.

[Dan]

Yeah. It all happened.

[Ashley Rogers]

So that was your first little venture?

[Dan]

Yes.

[Ashley Rogers]

That's cool.

[Dan]

Yeah. So we sold clothing. We were doing. That year, we did 9.5 million sales.

[Ashley Rogers]

Damn. And what year was this?

[Dan]

Now it became the year 2000, but 1999 to 2000, I graduated high school 99. And then 2001, we started doing, like, 2122 million sales, all in apparel, and then wanted to launch the energy drink. It took two years because we wanted to go public.

[Ashley Rogers]

Mm.

[Dan]

So end up going public April 1, 2005. And that took a lot of work. Literally. Two years of accounting, two years of raising money.

[Ashley Rogers]

Wild.

[Dan]

But it was.

[Ashley Rogers]

It's a cool story.

[Dan]

Yeah. And then 2005, 2009, I literally don't remember anything. All I do is sell. I just drove around to 55,000 stores. I didn't go to every store, but I went to every distributor multiple times, all 43 cities, and just spent all the time with them. And I would go meet with Costco and Ralph's.

[Ashley Rogers]

I mean, putting in that work, though, and going to all those distributors and building that relationship is probably why your brand ended up where it ended up.

[Dan]

Yeah. We were the number seven out of 900 drinks on the market, and we were number seven, and it was a battle. I had a website back then called Energy Drink wars dot com, and I would just post pictures and videos of us, like, at retail stores. And then all of our drinks were outside in the dumpster. So, like, another energy drink would take us and throw us away. So we'd go take all their, like, Zions. The guys from UFC had a brand. We take all their drinks and put it outside, and we'd put our drinks in there. It was like a. It was a war.

[Ashley Rogers]

It's funny.

[Dan]

It was war because there's only so much shelf space. There's an old saying. Eye level is bilevel. So if you go to a cooler and you open up that cooler or you go to a shelf when you're walking by, if you're not above the. Above the waist is what we call it. If you're not above the waist, no one's buying your product.

[Ashley Rogers]

No one.

[Dan]

Like, if you can, I could literally attach $100 bill to this $5 package or $10 package. I could put $100 bill on it. But if I put on the bottom.

[Ashley Rogers]

Shelf, no one's buying it.

[Dan]

They won't pay 10 bucks for another bill because they can't see it.

[Ashley Rogers]

When you look at the data, it's wild. The velocity difference between the bottom shelf versus the middle.

[Dan]

I literally will turn down a retailer.

[Ashley Rogers]

Same.

[Dan]

I won't be in it because I'm not going to do well.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

What's the point? I love you, Whole Foods. I love you, Costco.

[Ashley Rogers]

If you're going to give me a shot like you, you need to give me an eye level shot.

[Dan]

Yes. I need to be above the waist. There's no point.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah. Because it's expensive going in a retailer on the bottom shelf and then getting discontinued because the product did not sell.

[Dan]

Right.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah.

[Dan]

And then now when you talk to other retailers, they're like, oh, how'd you do over Whole Foods? Like, well, Yep.

[Ashley Rogers]

You don't have that data story to go show these other retailers.

[Dan]

You don't want to explain it because then they're like, oh, well, now she's gonna talk bad about me and my chain store. I'm not going to take that brand. You don't want that.

[Ashley Rogers]

On investing, too. I also think it's really important to invest in the right people. So it's not only things, it's like yourself, but it's also the right people.

[Dan]

So talk about team. Like, when someone's first getting going, a lot of times they're just doing everything. They're a solopreneur. Maybe they get a partner and they can help split up some of the efforts. But what about when that first hire? They go hire an executive assistant, or they go hire a sales manager, or they go hire a COO, or they go hire that first person. When do you know it's the time, or do you do it before it's time?

[Ashley Rogers]

Both. But I feel like, you know, when it's the time, like you're overwhelmed and you know your strengths. Right. So you hire your weaknesses. That's at least what I do. But I always get the ground. I would say I'm the solo person in the business for the first six months. I get it going, and then I figure out what gaps I need to fill first. And the most important role, I need to hire first, which is normally I'm the best at sales. It's normally like the ops and finance side. So if I get somebody else to run that smoothly, I can go out here and sell and market the product and get the revenue coming in.

[Dan]

Yes. So here's a big thing. Operations and finance is very time consuming and you want someone that knows how to live and breathe it. Super important. I don't run any accounting in any of my companies because I'm better versed to go do like what Ashley said is go do the sales or go do the marketing or go do the social content, go to the conventions. Me dealing with the accounting and finance is not helpful to the company.

[Ashley Rogers]

No.

[Dan]

And sometimes like, oh, I can't spend the three grand a month or ten grand a month or two grand a month or five grand a month, whatever the price is to have someone do that thing. But how much are you worth?

[Ashley Rogers]

Totally.

[Dan]

Like would. Aren't you worth more than five grand a month?

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah.

[Dan]

If you know that you can go create 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, $100,000 in sales, then five grand a month is free.

[Ashley Rogers]

Well, that person will basically pay for themselves for sure. Yeah.

[Dan]

Just allowing you to unshackle yourself from the office and deal with accounting and spreadsheets. And so I go in knowing like, okay, what does my day look like? If I'm spending two hours a day dealing with accounting and finances, what could I do with two hours a day in sales?

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

Right. So why don't I pay that person five grand a month to go do that thing for me? Unshakable me. Let me go. Yeah, let me go fly. Let me go sell me.

[Ashley Rogers]

Like in the business or on the business? Like you don't want to be in the business on the finance side, you want to be working on the business and getting the revenue and the sales coming in.

[Dan]

Yes. Okay, so you've talked to a retailer, you're on the shelf. It's working.

[Ashley Rogers]

Which is really hard.

[Dan]

Yes.

[Ashley Rogers]

To get it working.

[Dan]

Now you want to leverage it. You want to go get to other retail chains. What is that first phone call? Like, let's call me right now. Like, call me Ashley. Like, I'm the buyer for Whole Foods. How do you get your product into my store?

[Ashley Rogers]

Okay. Hey, Dan, I love to be on the shelf of your stores right now. We're currently sold in Walmart and Target. We have a really healthy philosophy. We're exceeding the buyer's expectation. We have this amazing brand name behind sprinkles iconic 20 year old brand. We're creating something that doesn't currently exist. Our innovative cupcake cup. Think of a peanut butter cup, but instead of peanut butter inside, it's cupcake frosting. Can I Get an in person meeting with you. I'd love to come meet you in person, take you out to dinner and pitch my idea to you.

[Dan]

Wow, that was really good. What are the price points of these compared to normal chocolates?

[Ashley Rogers]

We are in line with our competitors.

[Dan]

Yeah, Normal chocolates. Because there's some chocolates that's very expensive and some chocolates are very.

[Ashley Rogers]

This is like, this is premium chocolate. So like lint and Ghirardelli I would say is premium chocolate. Hershey's is like more on the cheap side. This is considered a premium chocolate.

[Dan]

So she's going to buy you.

[Ashley Rogers]

We'll see. Someone's going to buy us.

[Dan]

So I asked that question because just recently there was a sour Patch strips.

[Ashley Rogers]

Oh yeah.

[Dan]

That influencer created. Created just four years ago. This influencer started with no money, just had a social media following and started making these sour strips. By the way, there's lots of other sour strips. Yeah, there's lots of other sour strip companies. Just recently, this summer sold for over $100 million.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

There's only a few SKUs and there's nothing new about it.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah.

[Dan]

God bless him. I'm not saying in a bad way.

[Ashley Rogers]

Power of social media, good branding.

[Dan]

But you have unfair advantage. You have a 20 year legacy brand that's top, top tier. Like it is the number one brand. I can't even name another chain of cupcake stores. Right. Like this is the cupcake.

[Ashley Rogers]

They're the og.

[Dan]

Yeah. And there's lots of cupcake stores that pop up. But this is the brand by far. So why chocolate? Why go down that path? And what does it do for retailers to already have an established brand?

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah. So we didn't want to be in baking because the velocity is pretty low in baking. We wanted to be in a high velocity category and we're an indulgent, decadent brand. So we just love the chocolate category. When it was presented to me, it was bars. But I realized quickly that bars, like I said, I'm big about innovation. So creating something that brought chocolate and the cupcake together and creating the cupcake cup like was the perfect product for the chocolate category, which is like a higher velocity category. Because that's another thing. When I create things like I don't want to create something and know that it's going to be a slow mover. I want to go into a category where I know it's a high velocity item and the product's going to move. Salty snack. Like most people buy a bag of salty snacks when they're in Store. Right. Chocolate, another big category. Ice cream, another big category. But ice cream's difficult because I actually looked at the ice cream piece of it, too. The frozen component. That's another thing you want to look at the logistics of it. Does it need to be refrigerated? Is it frozen?

[Dan]

Like, this would be a great frozen brand, obviously, too.

[Ashley Rogers]

But Sprinkles could be anything. Yeah, it could.

[Dan]

Frozen is a. There's a lot of ice cream brands.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah, there are a lot of ice cream.

[Dan]

There's like six shelves, like, six cooler shelves of ice cream, maybe more now at most chain stores, but they also are owned by the same half a dozen companies like that are just cannibalizing each other and buying all of each other. Okay. So as you're getting into retail stores with the brand and you're already in, obviously to the biggest brands, which is Walmart and Target, how did the small stores buy you? Do they buy you through distributors? They buy you through wholesale. Like, how do small retailers go buy a brand like this?

[Ashley Rogers]

So we actually got lucky with Sprinkles. And because of the background and me knowing, like, distribution, how you have to go through a distributor to get into a retailer. There's, like, a caveat to that. If you're a big brand. Right. Like, Pepsi doesn't need to really go through, like, they go direct. Right. So Sprinkles, right now it's actually Direct with Walmart and direct with Target. And then we're entering three other big national retailers that I negotiated direct on. So if you have the power to do that, that just gives you more margin to operate the business, which is what we did with Sprinkles. But again, Sprinkles is the anomaly.

[Dan]

Yep.

[Ashley Rogers]

So.

[Dan]

So let's say someone just got their brand going and a broker approaches them. Brokers take a pretty good big commission or fees or consulting fees, et cetera. How could someone work with a broker? And is it worth it?

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah, I do think sometimes a broker is necessary. Like, we work with a broker both on Walmart and Target. It's nice to just have an expert on each retailer. Like managing your promotions in store. Like, you talked about the end caps and your promo calendar. And when. I mean, my promos is like 2 for 5 or they manage that. But a lot of time, especially for smaller brands, like, buyers won't listen to you. You send an email like I just pitched you, and they get a thousand of those a day. Right. So sometimes you need that broker who has that relationship.

[Dan]

Just text them like, hey, yes.

[Ashley Rogers]

To get you in the door.

[Dan]

Hey, Jennifer, I'm coming.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah, I think a broker's fine and maybe the first year you pay them a little bit more in commission and prove yourself and then you can renegotiate the commission a year later because they do get expensive.

[Dan]

So you've had a few exits, which is rare. People have one exit in their life. Hopefully. Now you've had a few exits and you're working on iconic brand that may decide to exit, may not. Up to them. How do you know when it's time? Like, how do you know? It's like, you know what, maybe I should shop this deal or maybe I should take that call that private equity group keeps calling me. Maybe I should. When do you know it's time?

[Ashley Rogers]

It's. It's hard, right? Because it's like you never know when you're going to start going down. Right. So the timing of it, I feel like, is an art in itself. But I mean, as a founder, you just, I mean, you, you just know, you know people will start approaching you, right. So there's those people in your ear that will start coming to you. It depends, like, where you are from a distribution standpoint. Like, are you in your max distribution? How much acv, like additional doors can you gain? Right. But it's, it's hard to know exactly. I feel like that part of it and that timing is really an art. And you just kind of. I'm a big gut instinct person, you know, you just go with your gut. For me personally, I know when I'm ready to move on, so that's like a big piece of it too.

[Dan]

Emotionally ready to move on?

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah.

[Dan]

Mentally, yeah.

[Ashley Rogers]

Like, when I'm ready, I'm ready. Like, but because I'm. I'm just such a passionate person that like, if I believe in something, like, you're getting a hundred percent of me and like I straw. I'm a big work ethic person. Like, I don't know a lot of people that can match my work ethic because I'll fucking work around the clock, you know, and that's really hard to find. Like, it's really hard to find somebody with a strong work ethic now. Right. So, yeah, I mean, the timing of it is. It's kind of an art, but it's a gut instinct thing. And you. I know what I know.

[Dan]

So in the last category, we talk about charity. Why do you think that brands should incorporate charity? Whether it's for their executive staff, company to see it or be a part of it or for their Brand, like, you know, like the Tom Shoes concept, incorporating, like, buy a shoe, get a shoe type things.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah. I mean, I feel like that is a big emotional thing for the consumer. Like, I. We haven't really done a charity component. I've never been part of that. I love to be a part of that, and that's something that I definitely want to do in my future. But with Spudsy, we did this. We had an up. Upcycling concept, like, where we saved the spud. So we use ugly sweet potatoes.

[Dan]

That's fun.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah. But I feel. And like, all my employees, they get equity in my. So I guess you can look at that as like a charity piece of it. Right? Because, like, that people are more invested when you. When you give into them, they give more to you, for sure. So the charity piece of it, I feel like, is huge. And you can look at it as a charity of giving people money or giving people equity or having this cool mission behind your brand that saves sweet potatoes. Like, I think there's different ways to look at it.

[Dan]

So I always ask this one question, and I've never gotten the same answer before. So let's say 100 years from now, okay, Ashley, you've got bionic arms. You've gone. Modern society has helped with all these different technologies. So you can live 150, 100, 200 years old, but you've now sold your 22nd food and beverage brand.

[Ashley Rogers]

Damn.

[Dan]

And you've accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars. What percentage of your net worth do you leave to your kids?

[Ashley Rogers]

I would say at least half of it. Right. I mean, I don't want to. I'd want to give some to charity and the things that I'm passionate about because, like, every single year, there's something else that I'm passionate about, but I can't put a number on it. Enough to. Enough that my kids and their kids. Kids. Kids are set for life.

[Dan]

I like it.

[Ashley Rogers]

What would you.

[Dan]

So mine changed a lot because I asked that question so often, and literally I've never gotten the same answer. Okay, we've done 99 episodes.

[Ashley Rogers]

Am I your hundredth?

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rogers]

That's kind of special. I feel like I love that.

[Dan]

And I've literally never gotten the same answer. I've heard zero. I've heard 100. I've heard everything between. I also think that. I think a lot about how much longer people are gonna be living in the future because of modern society, modern medicine, the fact of, you know, we'll literally have bionic arms in our generation. We'll have bionic arms. A lot of diseases will be eradicated. I've thought a lot about inheritance while I'm still alive.

[Ashley Rogers]

Mm.

[Dan]

And major milestones in children's lives. College. Well, car first high school is car college house, wedding, things like that along the journey.

[Ashley Rogers]

And, like, you've done the math on it all.

[Dan]

Just the concept of, like, she might not need it when she's 58. Right. Let's say I pass away when she's 58. Like, she's gonna be rich because I'm gonna help her with companies or advisor a teacher and. Or just whatever happens throughout the course of Ariana's life, like.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yep.

[Dan]

And my goal is for her to be rich without me. Right.

[Ashley Rogers]

And so her getting, I think, is like, a huge gift that you can give to your kids. Because that gift was given to me. Like, even though I came from a successful family, I worked for every single thing I have, and that made me the person that I am, you know?

[Dan]

Yes.

[Ashley Rogers]

So that's. That's a big gift.

[Dan]

I'm afraid for society where this is the. Our society has become. A lot of people become wealthy.

[Ashley Rogers]

Mm.

[Dan]

When you think about it, like, growing up in the past. Sure. Your friends at high school, there wasn't a bunch of rich kids at school because most people's parents work normal jobs and they make 60 grand a year and 80 grand a year. And that was a big deal back then. 40 grand a year. It was a big deal back then. Now with cryptocurrency, real estate investment, angel investments, tech investments, venture capital, like, just in general, there's been so many ways people to make money and build wealth and have exits where it just wasn't the same thing. Back in. Back in our days, our parents didn't have social media and venture capital. Those things didn't exist. People weren't buying hundreds of real estate units like they are now.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah.

[Dan]

And so I just think about a lot of, like, our. How are kids going to be when they. They grew up in a rich family?

[Ashley Rogers]

It's scary. Yeah, it's scary.

[Dan]

And have a phone at.

[Ashley Rogers]

This phone thing terrifies me. Especially both. Having girls, like, scares the out of me.

[Dan]

I think about it every day.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah.

[Dan]

I actually did a post last week asking when is the right time to give a child the.

[Ashley Rogers]

What do people say?

[Dan]

Almost the overwhelming answer was 12.

[Ashley Rogers]

Okay. Like, the overwhelming answer was 12's like middle school, right?

[Dan]

Yes.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah. And it's like, you want to be able to get a hold of them, but you don't want them to have access to this world.

[Dan]

Yes. I mean, I think my daughter's going to have it much earlier, just not with restrictions.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah.

[Dan]

She's not going to have Instagram when she's five or anything. But like when a child. Once a child leaves the house, I want them to have a cell phone.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah.

[Dan]

Not necessarily a smartphone, but I want them to have a cell phone because I do want to be able to.

[Ashley Rogers]

Maybe we need to invent some kind of kids phone.

[Dan]

Yes, I'm down for that for sure. For a lot of reasons. Well, because it's. There's a lot of. There are safety requirements and safety ways that people can restrict children's phones, but kids are getting real smart and there's ways to hustle that their friends.

[Ashley Rogers]

Like, they know.

[Dan]

They know. Yes. And they have ways to make money to go buy their own phone that the parents doesn't even know about. They have their own little side phone. And so I just try to be realistic about it. But yeah, I think that if someone made a smartphone that was really smart, that actually, like, could restrict it without the kids being able to trick it. I think that'd be a really interesting.

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah.

[Dan]

Interesting business. Okay, final question. We're going into the new year and there's been. How do I say it? An overwhelming amount of pressure for people to validate themselves on social media and try to make themselves look like they're super cool. What could you say to people that are going through the hard times, the good times, the bad times, and everything between about why they should be their authentic self when they're dealing with their staff, their friends, their family, and people around them?

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah, I was literally just gonna say, like, authenticity is everything. Like, I don't know, I'm. I feel like it's really hard for some people to do be themselves because they think they have to be all of the things that they see on social media. But I. People. People nowadays are so smart that if you are not 100% authentic and if you are not 100% yourself, people see that and they don't invest in you. Like people invest in people who are confident and authentically themselves.

[Dan]

Yeah. So where can people find you across social media?

[Ashley Rogers]

Mine is I am Ashley Rogers. And then there are Sprinkles Cupcakes and Sprinkles Chocolate on Instagram.

[Dan]

How many Sprinkles Cupcakes are there now? Ballpark.

[Ashley Rogers]

How many stores there's between? 38, 30. Yeah, yeah. They're starting to franchise them now, too.

[Dan]

Oh, really?

[Ashley Rogers]

Yeah. Yeah. Call me Temecula. Here we come.

[Dan]

I mean, I literally, I can't even explain how many times I've gotten that. Sprinkles. Yeah, a friend of mine just opened up a huge, like, membership club called Gravitas right on the corner there on Santa Monica, right across from the sprinkles.

[Ashley Rogers]

Oh, cool.

[Dan]

Yes. 28,000 square foot fancy pants membership club.

[Ashley Rogers]

Damn.

[Dan]

But it's literally kitty corner to Sprinkles.

[Ashley Rogers]

Cupcakes.

[Dan]

Cupcakes. Which is great for. Great for me because then I can go over to Sprinkles and get my red velvet.

[Ashley Rogers]

Okay, well, now you have the hookup. Free free cupcakes for life.

[Dan]

All right, guys, make sure to check out Ashley Rogers. It's I am Ashley Rogers on Instagram and social media. If you're interested in learning about how to actually get into the food and beverage game, CPG game, she is going to be creating masterminds courses. And you know how passionate I am about people learning from experts and she's obviously done it with multiple exits. Living and breathing in this category. Make sure to have these important discussions with your friends, family and followers about money. Because we all grew up thinking it's rude to talk about money. I think it's rude to not talk about it. I think our society, it's mission critical for us to have these discussions about accounting, taxes, finances, loans, leases, cars, rent. What happens if your friend borrows 200 bucks? Like just talk about money because it's our real life. It is part of our daily lives for everything that we do, from the clothes we wear to the food we eat to the electricity is money related. So have these discussions. Check out I am Ashley Rogers on Instagram and we will see you guys next Monday on themoneymondays.

[Ashley Rogers]

Com.

[Dan]

Thank.