Bonus Episode: An Accidental Entrepreneur

[Music] hello everyone welcome to the 21 hats podcast I'm your host Lauren Feldman in today's bonus episode we meet Shannon Kennedy it took a series of sad losses to turn Shannon from a banker into an aspiring entrepreneur if a friend hadn't lost his son and if Shannon's mother and sister hadn't been diagnosed with cancer she never would have designed prototyped manufactured and started selling the Morgan Square a tool that can save Carpenters time while framing a project jannon is just getting started but we'll keep in touch with her as her journey continues the episode is titled an accidental [Music] entrepreneur welcome Shannon it's great to have you here you have a very interesting side hustle that uh seems to hold a great deal of promise and it starts with a very unusual story can you tell us how you got started down this path yes I am the inventor behind the Morgan Square which is a new Carpenter Square basically how this all came together is I I have a friend who lives in New Zealand he had a son that passed away from leukemia at the age of eight some time ago I never met his son but as having you know you know you talk to your friends and you're just you're just sharing life and about 2014 or 15 my mother and my sister were both diagnosed with breast cancer um short amount of time apart oh gosh while I was talking to my friend in New Zealand and just sharing my life experience as well he had shared with me that before his son passed away um he had built him like a mobile bed so he could take him outside so he could get fresh air because he could no longer walk and he told me he said you know back then when I was doing all this I wish I had a tool where I could build things faster so I could spend more time with my son and the reason why he was sharing this story with me is that he was thinking oh well maybe there's something that I could do with it to help care for my mother and my sister and so after he shared with me more about this tool I did a patent uh search it didn't exist and so I ended up developing and and designing and bringing to life this product called the Morgan Square Morgan is the name of his son so I actually named the square after his son the name of my company is kiwi Vision because this since uh my is from New Zealand uh this is my honor to my friend uh for being a kiwi for sharing the story with me because you didn't have to do that and so lo and behold I have um basically designed this thing from concept to you know fruition with of course you know feedback and input from him and a friend that I have that is an actual Carpenter and ironically both of their names are Gary I always say that so I have my New Zealand Gary and I have my us Gary you can't make this stuff up Shannon do you have any background at all in creating products using tools woodwork anything related to this no so it gets even better I am actually a banker by trade I have been in the Commercial Bank industry for more than 25 years and can you tell us where yes I actually work for Silicon Valley Bank I've been there for more than 24 years um and I am currently in their startup banking organization but I've had many many roles in the organization that amount of time but no I do not do any type of woodworking or well I can't say that now but uh that is definitely not my background by any means are you involved in giving out loans working with entrepreneurs that aspect of banking uh no I I'm more on the the support side so I actually don't um engage with clients directly but I'm sitting within it so you don't have experience building a business either this that part of this is new to you as well no I don't have this is the first business that I have built I I do have a masters in in business management and with my experience um in the baking industry I'm familiar with just um some of the things that are important to entrepreneurs while they're running their business so this is a first for me tell me more about the Morgan Square what does it do absolutely um so the concept of the Morgan Square uh generated from the the framing process so generally when you're laying out um your walls for a home you would measure you take your 2x4 for example and you would make your do your layout by using a speed square and a tape measure you'd lay your 2x4 down and basically make your marks and then You' pick up your your speed square and then you'd come down and make your lines well the Morgan Square has combined two steps of that framing process by being compatible with tape measures so it actually cuts the layout process um I won't say half but it's pretty close um if you had a pretty large 2x4 we've got a lot of feedback it um basically allows you to measure and Mark at the same time um I've also got a couple of patented features on it where the width of the ruler itself is actually the same width as the studs in the wall that you would use uh to put your studs um and we've got a Center Line mark down the middle of our tongue so you don't have to do your Center on 16 when you're doing your measurements and how did you figure out that this was something that people who do this kind of work would value so my uh my friend my my my us Gary that's what I called him he used to be um was a carpenter or Foreman by trade and um I when I was going through this I needed to have someone that I could trust that I could run the concept back by you know not that I didn't trust the New Zealand Gary but just I I needed to make sure that I understood um what it was so once I showed this process and and we Gary also had some conversations about what this concept was like whoa and then we started showing it to people and the reactions that we were getting was kind of like I almost didn't know what I had and once I said I went and did the patent search and it didn't exist and I filed the patent and was granted you know design patent got it in front of a manufacturer and he they were like this hasn't been done before like no it hasn't something so simple I've also been told that it can be used for quilting my husband is a cabinet maker he actually uses it to lay out the front of uh his doors there just so many different ways that it can be used that have come out lately so we're like wow we started with one idea and here we are with um all of these various ways to use the Morgan Square so there's a lot going on there first of all you you you mentioned your your mother and your sister are are they doing okay um actually my elder sister um did pass away um in 2020 oh I'm sorry to hear that Mom is okay um so um but I I also care for my mom unfortunately now Mom has dementia so it's just been an ongoing thing um but it's yes it is you know it's um a rough story of how this all came to together in the first place and it's just been um I just felt like I couldn't put it down once it ended up in my hands I just felt like I had to keep going and here I am doing trade shows and got it out on Amazon and it is available on Amazon now yes it's available on Amazon Woodcraft uh directly from our website so slow and steady but sure progress well let's talk uh about some of these uh important steps it sounds like the first thing you did uh was to go and get a patent did you you hired a lawyer what was that process like uh yes I actually wasn't a lawyer um but I did it was more like a paralal service if you will but basically what they did is they went through and did the search professionally uh looked at all of the artwork um and then came back and told me there was any similarity or anything before actually filing so yes filing the patent filing the trademark establishing um an LLC us you know to keep things separate well how did you start the the manufacturing process how did you find the manufacturer actually Gary's wife was a good friend of mine I end up working with him because of her I asked her I don't know I said can I borrow Gary for I don't know a couple hours or something it's been a few years and he's been by my side kind of helping me my my right hand there but um we ended up going in front of a manufacturer together and I believe it was a friend of a friend and we just locked out and in the Silicon Valley ended up in front of a manufacturer and said hey um you know is this something that you think that you'd be willing to make for so then we started to you know identify materials sizes and what exactly that looked like and they were a contract manufacturer that did similar tools they do all kinds of things uh pretty much if you can dream it they can build it so CNC it's it's everything I see and had you considered other possibilities I mean did you think about going to China or I mean of course U but you know when you're starting from scratch Outsourcing it if you can it's it's going to be cheaper we do our prototyping here but for mass quantities they are being done in Vietnam but also looking to have them done State Side so I'm still open I see so you started with a manufacturer right there in Silicon Valley where you are and uh when you needed to produce more you you found a manufacturer in Vietnam or was that a relationship that the manufacturer already had yes it's a relationship that the manufacturer had so how many of these have you made so far oh goodness um wow I'd say 5,000 let's just say 5,000 um at this point and just getting it out there I was at the awfs fair last July at the end of July and since the middle of July I think we've sold over 300 units so you know getting the the the the recognition and and getting it out there is picking up so I'd say that's probably been about um you know I don't know off the top of my hand but we we I only started to get it out there and sell it last August uh because I had launched it originally right during the pandemic or in October of 2019 and so all of the trade shows that I had scheduled for 2020 we all know what happened then everything was put on hold so I went to The Intern National woodworking Fair last August and had entered the Morgan Square um in their Challengers award and I was a top 20 finalist for most Innovative product and I'm pretty sure probably one of the only women or not the only woman-owned Tool company on the floor you're right there in Silicon Valley I'm sure you to some extent you must have thought about you know what do I do with this I could find investors I could take it to a big company did you consider those kinds of options um yeah yeah all of them have been possibilities I mean I just for me it's more than just putting it out there and having someone I mean it would be nice to get it out there like I said with Distributors and things such as that but there's something different when you put in The Sweat Equity of developing a product from concept to something tangible so I could get investors probably if you know I'm just not sure that's something that I want to do um or if I need to do it you know I know a lot of people do that but it's if I don't need to do it and I can get it out there um and you know find the right people the right Distributors it may not be anything and who knows like I said maybe who knows maybe somebody will come and say they want to buy the Morgan Square it's all possible but I think it's we're we're just getting our feet wet was it just that you thought you would enjoy the process of actually building a b and running a business it's kind of like my baby if you will I'm I feel um a special connection to the product uh just based off of the generation of it the whole idea about it I have a personal connection to this story this product and how it ended up you know just in my hands it's just not an easy thing to want to go give it to anybody good for you how have you been able to pay for the uh manufacturing that you've done so far is that out of your own personal fund or did you do friends and family what were you able to do bootstrapping so far it's been it's been me and of the the ones that you've made you've been able to sell most are all of them and put the money back in to making more um yes now that I've had it out there for about a year now I mean they're moving now um like I said exposure is picking up so I have had the ability to buy a few rounds of product um and also preparing to buy another round of units shortly here yeah it's just so I'm able to I'm able to keep going there are days that it's just tight and of course you know when you're doing an entrepreneur thing it's always about cash flow and having the operating expenses just to keep going but yes I've been able to purchase them and have them on hand keeping up with Amazon demands and things such as that um but there are days it does you question yourself as an entrepreneur but sure I definitely uh I'm you know feeling very positive about it and especially the momentum that we're getting as of late how did you pick a price for it actually the team and I we literally went into the stores and we looked at squares we were in the Home Depot and the lows and kind of gauging and and doing our research when you do your research you can kind of figure out what's out there what attracts people high-end ones the low-end ones and so you know like I said it's a you know a regular person's hand tool so we didn't want to overprice anything but you said it's still true that there aren't any other squares out there that do what yours does no and there's nothing out there like that this's a speed square which isn't NE it's not I wouldn't say competitor or anything they just do different things they're there's not anything that at least that I'm aware of that has a tape measure attached to it and ours also has a pencil holder squares don't have those so did you price yours to be competitive with with the existing squares out there even though they don't do what yours does absolutely absolutely and given that it does do something a little different I mean it's it's we we wanted to keep it sensible uh again being a new brand a new product I don't think it's the best decision to go out there but you want it to be attractive um you need to build your Brand's name first and your product you also need to make a little bit of profit so you can keep going and make more yes and that that's that's the goal yes can you tell us what you're charging for it yes so I actually have um three sizes and two materials our UV resistant plastic 8 in is $19.99 the 8 inch comes in plastic and aluminum so that one is $ 39.99 and then the 12 in is $49.99 and then our 16 by 24 is $ 64.99 and how did you go about spreading the word what's your best marketing been going to trade shows um I've been going to trade shows um I think this was just my fifth one I was just at the awfs as I mentioned at the iwf I will be headed back to iwf in 2024 I've done some social media marketing not the greatest marketing is a whole different animal just getting the whole social have you been doing that yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you no I do it I do it myself I I post um I run in the Instagram Pages the Facebook pages you you know I'm that true entrepreneur wearing a thousand hats I know eventually I won't be able to do everything but again uh for me it's part of The Sweat Equity that's out there but it's it's gaining momentum I we've been featured on Stumpy Nubs um a YouTube video I didn't even know who he was uh last month I was sitting at home and all of a sudden my Amazon just starts on fire and I'm what is going on I I started checking myself did I am I running something where what's all this traffic coming from but people are hearing about it and I guess someone told him about it and he put it out on his YouTube and sold us out on Amazon in less than two hours and so other folks are starting to hear about it now it's just been crazy and I I don't know where a lot of folks hear from it the only way that I find out people are talking about it outside of my advertisements is I have a a question about how did you hear about us and they'll let me know how has it gone with Amazon oh that was that's a whole different different MBA no well give us a hint oh it's a lot I'm I'm I'm actually I'm doing my my my field by Amazon as well so I use the FBA as they call it so I've actually uh taught myself how to navigate and use their Seller Central but I've gotten much better at so they have advertising and promotions and things and so when it comes to you know shipping the inventory Gary and myself and his wife we all we're we're hand packaging and we're boxing these ourselves and sending them over to Amazon just figuring out the whole algorithm and if you're advertising how to read you know what your return on on your your your advertisement is they've got all kinds of tricks and I participated in the uh what is that Prime day sure I I'd heard of it now as a business I needed to get ready for that so I learned about how to you know give the the the coupons or the discounts and be ready for how long and how long you want to run it so it's been an interesting Journey you have to put on barcodes that match what Amazon has if you sell out for example I just learned that you know that your product actually just disappears you can't even find it disappears from the site just disappears from the site doesn't even pop up unless you have a direct link so just realizing that you need to keep something that's always inbound if you will so that it's reflective that it's coming but I am learning so much with it like just reading the Matrix and you know the colors and just it's a lot it is a lot what what have you learned about the advertising process have you have you figured out how much to spend and how productive it is yes um learning about the biz and you know how much you want to spend daily like for example you can say you want to do $25 but then if you can also uh configure it to go up or down on certain days like if you think they're going to S there's all these nuances with each one so you can do run sponsored campaigns or sponsored products I'm still learning about the Amazon stores it's just it's like a a hole that you can get lost in and I actually had to stop looking at it for a while cuz it was almost like a new social media like I kept looking at it well how many orders are in there what does this mean and it's um it's definitely educational did you hire anybody to help you with Amazon or take a course or anything I've been teaching myself um they do offer a lot of you know courses and classes um when I'm not banking I'm Morgan squaring I've been teaching myself everything you know even from just using QuickBooks for accounting and everything and I I got some help with that because I'm a banker but not an accountant that's two different things but it it it's a feeling that I just love like when I get an order I do a dance backflip okay at least in my mind but it's just something about you know packaging up something that you have put your heart and soul into that somebody is interested in buying it's easy to imagine that there's some big companies out there construction companies that if they see the value in this would Place very large L orders have you had conversations with anybody like that um I've been trying I am out there you know you just got to find the right hook there is interest but yeah it's um I'm like I said constantly out there networking and one of the challenges is being a woman in this industry just when they find out that it's a woman not that not not saying it in a bad way but the videos and things that are out there that you see in our YouTube and things it's a sometimes it's me but more so it's Gary And so there's just assumption that you know I've seen comments where people you know at the shows they're like what do you know about you know woodworking do they actually say that oh yeah oh oh no oh they say it they say it or oh this is a woman-owned business oh I don't want anything to do with that you'd think the the product speaks for itself I mean somebody who knows W either sees value in it or they don't what difference does it make who owns it hey I don't know but I agree and it does sell itself you know we put it in people's hands we know that it's a good to we know that it's quality we're not trying to convince or sell you it sell itself um but I just go with it you know I kind of use it to my advantage I'm either laughing at it or I show them I tell them about it I let them know and then when they see it I did I did have one guy do that to me at a networking event and by the time I got him through with my 302nd pitch I was ready he bought one so you know it's um but but I'm going to get there what's the next step that you're hoping to to take I don't know if it's the next but the the ultimate goal for me would be is to get the Morgan Square distributed in New Zealand for me that would be the icing on the cake um just to be able to take Morgan back home that's how I see it and you're still in touch with New Zealand Gary yes but he's not involved in this in any way right NOP and he wants nothing to do with it nothing at all he I when I finished the product I had sent him the product probably about I think the last end of last year or so and I'll just never forget he called me and he's like that's my boy that's my boy's name that right there was just extra fuel for this jet um just just to be able to to do it but yeah we talk we talk every once in a while it's not frequent um it's been quite a long time since I've I've actually seen him but he's aware of everything Morgan's father is aware of everything all right well my thanks to Shannon Kennedy and of course to our sponsor the Great game of business which helps businesses use an open book management system to build healthier companies you can learn more at Great game.com thanks for listening everybody wait wait don't leave yet if you have a question or a comment that you'd like the 21 hats owners to address send it to me by replying to your Morning Report or by email at Lauren 21h hats.com that's l r n21 hats.com do it now before you forget and don't be afraid to tell Jay what you really think you can take it and if you got something out of this conversation help us reach more business owners tell a friend subscribe and review us wherever you get your podcasts follow us on Twitter subscribe to the morning report at 21h hats.com this episode was produced by Jess tharon founder of blank word Productions okay now you can leave thanks for listening everyone [Music]