PROfiles: Jeremy Launder

ModernDirectSeller.com

What was your dream career as a kid?
Major League Baseball Player.

Describe the moment you decided to become an entrepreneur.
When I was around 18 (circa 2000) I got really into car stereos and electronics. I didn’t have much money so I was looking for ways to get equipment for a lower price. On eBay I found someone was selling material on how to get stereo equipment for wholesale prices. The process ended up being to set up a business and get a seller’s permit. I followed the steps and got my hands on a few distributor catalogs and once I saw the wholesale prices, I immediately saw the opportunity to resell equipment and make some money. That’s how my first business Launder Electronics was born!

What drives the work that you do?
I really enjoy seeing our customers get that “ah ha” moment and do something that they never thought would be possible or was too far out of reach for them. It’s an amazing feeling to be able to impact someone’s life and/or business in a positive way with the products and services we provide.

What’s the most exciting thing you’re working on in your business right now?
I handle all the tech and web development in our business. One of the products we offer is called Oh My, Hi (OhMyHi.com) which is a platform that allows our audience to easily make their own website and blog through a mostly fill-in-the-blank interface. We also provide a lot of templates for blog posts and pages to help them get up and running quickly. This project is pretty much my baby and I’ve spent a lot of time working on it. We recently passed 200 active users which is really exciting!

What does entrepreneurship mean to you?
It means having more control over your time and your income. I mentioned starting my first business when I was 18, but that business only lasted for about a year. After that, I was a corporate employee for 15+ years. I had a good job as an electrical engineer. It paid well, I always had good managers and really enjoyed the people I worked with. What I didn’t love was the time I was missing with my kids (they are 8 and 10 as I write this) and how my income potential was capped by whatever the company I worked for decided it would be. I wanted to spend more time with my kids, pick them up from school, go on field trips, not miss any baseball or softball practices and games, and ultimately just have more control over my time. I took the plunge and went full-time in our business in July 2020. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been rewarding and I don’t miss out on anything with the kids anymore. And our business has been able to grow faster since it is getting full-time attention.

I wanted to spend more time with my kids, pick them up from school, go on field trips, not miss any baseball or softball practices and games, and ultimately just have more control over my time.

What led you to SPI Pro?
I’ve followed Pat for a long time. I remember listening to really early podcast episodes (I think it was somewhere around episode 15) where he was talking about the different types of passive income streams and how you could make money online. It made total sense to me, but I didn’t have any ideas of what I could do to actually make an online business. I kept listening and following Pat, bought his books, and just kept learning. Eventually, my wife and I started an online business around 2017 so we could start putting the learning into practice. That business grew to where I left my corporate job in July 2020. After about a year of working in our own business, I was missing the interactions and hanging out with people in the office (which I thought was weird since I’m a pretty big introvert). An SPI email about the SPI Pro community came at the right time so I jumped on it and joined. Pat has always attracted a good tribe, so I thought I would be a good fit.

I’m not having to struggle through anything or try to figure it out on my own. I can ask the experts and get on track quickly.

What’s the most powerful interaction or learning moment you’ve had in the community?
As soon as I joined, I was reminded how important and powerful networking is. One of the members that joined in the same cohort dropped a booking link and wanted to meet people face-to-face over Zoom just to get to know everyone better. I met with him and a few other people that were open to meeting and had great conversations. Through those interactions, I started an SPI Pro mastermind with an awesome group of people (shout out to the Spotted Owls 🦉!) Our mastermind has been together for a little over a year now and we’ve all grown a ton.

What role has SPI Pro had in your business?
The MBA program within SPI Pro has been a big help in our business. Getting clear on budgets and strategic planning and getting input and insights from Matt and other members with businesses at a similar stage to ours has been really valuable. I’m not having to struggle through anything or try to figure it out on my own. I can ask the experts and get on track quickly.

What do you love most about SPI Pro, and what sets SPI’s communities apart from other entrepreneurial communities?
The people! Everyone is willing to jump in and help and, most importantly, in a nice and caring way. In some other communities I’m a part of the members talk down to those asking questions. The SPI community is welcoming which promotes more questions and collaboration.

What would you say to encourage entrepreneurs who aren’t involved in a community to join one?
Creating a successful online business is already tough and doing it all alone makes it even harder. Getting an outside perspective on your business can uncover things in your blind spots and help put you on a path to success.

If you had to start a brand-new online business from scratch today, what would it be?
I’ve never been the idea person. I’ve always been the implementor that figures out how to execute an idea. Because of that, I think I’d actually look at purchasing an existing online business that was interesting to me and that I thought I’d be able to grow.

If you had to start your current business over again from scratch today, what one thing would you do differently?
I’d work on growing one main product or offering to start. We tried to do too many things and launch too many products at the same time. It’s really hard to run multiple, completely different product lines in parallel when it’s just you (or you and a partner). We had courses, a membership community, a subscription box with physical products, and were doing some consulting and web development work all at the same time. It was too much and we were spread too thin. We couldn’t execute any of them as well as we would have liked since there was so much going on.

If you were given $1 million dollars today, no strings attached, what would you do with it?
I’d follow my San Diego Padres around on a cross-country trip with the family to every baseball stadium (my wife and I are both born and raised in San Diego). I’d upgrade the family car and ditch the minivan 😂. I’d take a bunch of that money and give it to my mom and dad so they could retire a year or two earlier (they are getting close to retirement). I also think it would be cool to invest back into the creator community in some way. Either in companies that support the creator economy or maybe individual creators that need some capital to execute their idea.

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