It’s the inaugural episode of the Nugent Good News Podcast! Adam Nugent’s guest on the show is John Brown. They talk about John being the COO at Cents of Style, his new venture, Be Fulfilled, and how he has been able to navigate these endeavors though today’s uncertain times. Together, they talk about the importance of finding new and innovative ways to provide tools for women entrepreneurs. Be prepared for a fun, uplifting, and informative conversation!
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In this podcast excerpt, John Brown, president of Be Fulfilled, a full-service operations company, talks about his business, his passion for the outdoors, and what makes someone an influencer.
AN: What’s a typical client for Be fulfilled?
JB: Our typical client is an influencer or a small brand. One of the main problems that most companies have when they’re trying to sell a product online is driving traffic to their website. There’s a lot of traditional methods of Facebook advertising or Google advertising, and those are expensive. So we’ve decided to target people who already have that influence, who already have that traffic. And we help them create an efficient system to monetize their products online. So we do the product development and the product sourcing. We build and manage their website. We do their fulfillment and their customer service—all these back-end operational things that no one wants to do.
AN: So John, when you’re not working, what do you like to do? What’s your passion?
JB: I’m a big outdoor guy. So I love to run and mountain bike. More recently, I’ve really got into gardening, kind of a green thumb. I call it EPD—extreme personality disorder where if I want to plant tomatoes, why not plant 72 types of tomatoes? If I want to run 5 miles, why not run 50 or 100? I’m learning as I get a little bit older that I can come more to the center and find peace in that.
AN: Tell us where you were raised, because it’s a unique story.
JB: So I’m from Rialto, California. It’s about an hour east of LA. I grew up in a very unique place. I oftentimes will call it ghetto. I think that overly simplifies it. It was a unique, very diverse area. And I love so much how and where I grew up, but I did not want to raise a family there. I had guns pulled on me. I’ve been robbed at gunpoint.
AN: How has that affected decisions you’re making today? Just based on how you were raised?
JB: I do feel like I have this ability to like sense a situation like, “All right, is this dangerous? No, we’re good.”
AN: What is the definition of an influencer?
JB: So when we’re talking about influencers, it’s someone who has people that listen to what they say. I have influencers or clients that are therapists, some that are in the active exercise space, some that are just straight personalities where they’re funny online, and some that are just wanting to create a brand around a product.
