Welcome to The Harvest Growth Podcast!
In today's episode, host Jon LaClare chats with Eric Barnhart, the innovative mind behind Boomin Belts, a unique Bluetooth belt buckle speaker born from a simple desire to have walk-up music like a baseball player while on the golf course. We'll delve into Eric's journey of 16 months of prototyping, the challenges of viral video marketing, and the incredible reception of his product at the PGA show. Plus, hear how Eric's relationship with Shark Tank's Kevin Harrington has bolstered his entrepreneurial spirit. Whether you're a golf enthusiast, a fan of innovative products, or curious about authentic marketing strategies, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration. Let's dive in!
In this episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, we'll discuss:
● The value of networking for entrepreneurs and aspiring founders
● How to create viral social media content for your business or product
● Authenticity and uniqueness in content creation
● Tips on choosing the right tradeshows and events
● And so much more!
Visit www.boominbelts.com to discover how you can enjoy your favorite music in a new way and create lasting memories with family and friends. Boomin Belts eliminates the need for bulky headphones and heavy speakers, letting you have fun without hassle.
To be a guest on our next podcast, contact us today!
Do you have a brand that you’d like to launch or grow? Do you want help from a partner that has successfully launched hundreds of brands totaling over $2 billion in revenues? Visit HarvestGrowth.com and set up a free consultation with us today!
Welcome to The Harvest Growth Podcast!
In today's episode, host Jon LaClare chats with Eric Barnhart, the innovative mind behind Boomin Belts, a unique Bluetooth belt buckle speaker born from a simple desire to have walk-up music like a baseball player while on the golf course. We'll delve into Eric's journey of 16 months of prototyping, the challenges of viral video marketing, and the incredible reception of his product at the PGA show. Plus, hear how Eric's relationship with Shark Tank's Kevin Harrington has bolstered his entrepreneurial spirit. Whether you're a golf enthusiast, a fan of innovative products, or curious about authentic marketing strategies, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration. Let's dive in!
In this episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, we'll discuss:
● The value of networking for entrepreneurs and aspiring founders
● How to create viral social media content for your business or product
● Authenticity and uniqueness in content creation
● Tips on choosing the right tradeshows and events
● And so much more!
Visit www.boominbelts.com to discover how you can enjoy your favorite music in a new way and create lasting memories with family and friends. Boomin Belts eliminates the need for bulky headphones and heavy speakers, letting you have fun without hassle.
To be a guest on our next podcast, contact us today!
Do you have a brand that you’d like to launch or grow? Do you want help from a partner that has successfully launched hundreds of brands totaling over $2 billion in revenues? Visit HarvestGrowth.com and set up a free consultation with us today!
Jon LaClare [00:00:00]:
Would you like to sell more at trade shows or create a viral video that catapults your revenues? In today's interview, you'll get some unique advice on these topics and much more and learn about a really cool product that's sure to put a smile on your face.
Announcer [00:00:14]:
Are you looking for new ways to make your sales grow? You've tried other podcasts, but they don't seem to know harvest the growth potential of your product or service as we share stories and strategies that'll make your competitors nervous. Now here's the host of the Harvest Growth podcast, Jon LaClare.
Jon LaClare [00:00:35]:
Welcome back to the show. Today I'm really excited to be speaking with Eric Barnhart. He's the founder and the inventor of Bumpin belts. They were previously known under boomin belts when they initially launched. If you've heard of that, it's a super cool product that he's developed, but also a really interesting story behind his early go to market strategy and how he found success really out of the gates. And, of course, now we're in the middle of growing the business and taking it to the next level. But, Eric, I want to welcome you to the show. Thanks for taking the time today.
Eric Barnhart [00:01:03]:
John, thank you so much for having me on.
Jon LaClare [00:01:06]:
Absolutely. So I'll let you describe, really, what are bumping belts.
Eric Barnhart [00:01:12]:
Right. So the bump and belt that I came up with the idea and launched is the world's first bluetooth belt buckle speaker. And so just kind of saying that out loud, I think there's a lot of folks that I've chatted with, they kind of have their own idea of what that is in their head. And so, you know, I play a lot of golf, and we typically listen a little bit of music on the golf course, respectfully, in the cart. And I was playing with some buddies, and one of them took his phone and hit play on Spotify, stuck it on his, in his pocket and walked up to the green. And I said, where's that music coming from? He said, you know, I got my phone in my pocket. One of the other guys in the group played a little major league Baseball. And so quickly we, you know, I started thinking, man, how cool would that be if we could have our own walk up music to the tee box similar to a baseball player in the bigs? And so that's kind of how the idea came, came up and just was thinking, okay, well, you know, what would that look like? How would that, you know, how would that actually work? And so that's where I was like, well, you know, if we could, if I could wear it like a belt buckle speaker, it wouldn't get, you know, wouldn't get in the way you could swing.
Eric Barnhart [00:02:24]:
Not have to worry about, you know, getting in the way of your, of your swing or anything you're doing activity wise. And it would just kind of seamlessly be integrated in your everyday life because you're carrying it with you and it sounds amazing and not something that's stuck in your pocket. Obviously, there's headphones, but when you're wearing that, it's not a communal experience. Right. It's just you're listening to your own personal music that's for you. So really, where could you share music? What activities could you share music for your personal space or the people with you? Be aware of your surroundings and just have a good time. And so that's kind of where the idea for bumpin belts was, was launched, was on the golf course. I wanted to have a product that wasn't just a golf product.
Eric Barnhart [00:03:14]:
So, you know, if we kind of rewind back a little bit, you know, with that idea, I said, oh, well, I'm gonna go find something out. And, you know, somebody has to have already made this, so I'll go and buy one so that next time I play golf, I'll have my own walk up music. Have the right, the perfect song for the walk up music. And then that should allow me to play a better round of golf. Hit the ball farther and straighter, in theory, right. If you have that positive mindset, and I believe it does, you know, I believe actually, I hit the ball better when I, when I have that song, and I'm amped up. And so that's how the idea was, was born on the golf course. That was over, let's say, two and a half years ago now.
Eric Barnhart [00:04:00]:
And so it took, you know, from, from the idea and looking online, trying to find something on Amazon Google search, I couldn't find anything that remotely resembled what I had in my, in my mind of what I, what I wanted. So I found a ton of small speakers, micro audio, kind of become an expert in micro audio through this whole process. And, you know, there was a wristwatch, like a wrist speaker that you could buy on Amazon, and it's, you know, it's a good size and sits on your wrist. That wouldn't be something that I would want to wear on the golf course. I found one of a hat that had some speakers in it, and, you know, it was interesting looking, but not something that I would woodwear. So that's, that's what led me down the journey of, you know, once I got that idea and I couldn't find anything like it, I said, okay, well, what would this look like? What would be the features and functionality that I would be proud of if I could come up with how to get the form factor and all of the different things that I was thinking about to make that an amazing experience for anybody that would want to purchase the product. So. So that was 16 months of prototyping and design that I went through to to get that form factor the way I want it to look like an amazing belt, but not right out of the gate.
Eric Barnhart [00:05:27]:
You wouldn't even notice that there was a speaker on that. Your belt buckle was a speaker. It's very subtle, and it's how it. You view it until you play music, and then someone can hear it and say, whoa, whoa, that sounds great. Where's that coming from? And it's been a really fun product that a lot of people have just been, oh, my gosh, this is so cool. Why didn't someone think of this sooner? Is a lot of the questions that I get. And then the second one is, this is perfect for shark Tank. So those are the two questions, the two comments that people make.
Eric Barnhart [00:06:00]:
So it's been really, really fun, exciting, and scary ride at the same time.
Jon LaClare [00:06:06]:
Launching this, you know, 16 months is a short timeline, even for a simple product to be developed and manufactured and ready to bring to market. But for something with electronics involved and fashion and form and function all combined into one. And really, the high quality look and feel of these speakers, it's phenomenal that you did it so quickly. I know as an inventor, you know, 16 months feels like a lifetime, right. But compared to other development cycles, it's so fast. So that's really impressive. I wanted to mention a couple things. You know, I use the bump and belt as well, and after my first conversation with you, one of the things that got me really excited was your story.
Jon LaClare [00:06:44]:
Right, the walk up song. Right. Like, that is so cool. So, of course, as soon as I got mine and shipped out to me, I put that together, came up my own walk up song, and walked in the house with my kids, and they all loved it. So it's a lot of fun. It's kind of a personality.
Eric Barnhart [00:06:57]:
What was the song I got?
Jon LaClare [00:06:58]:
It's embarrassing to say, but I have to say ice, ice baby by vanilla Ice. It's kind of a family joke in many ways. Our kids all know all the lyrics to ice, ice baby. It's just kind of this cheesy song that we joke about all the time, but because of that, we've all gotten to like it. It's kind of a funny family song for us.
Eric Barnhart [00:07:13]:
No judgment here. My favorite walk up song I would play all the time is Miley Cyrus party in the USA. So I'm going out in the world.
Jon LaClare [00:07:22]:
There you go.
Eric Barnhart [00:07:22]:
So we can't judge each other. And it's a great song. Makes me smile.
Jon LaClare [00:07:25]:
So that's what you need, right, in a walk up song. I love it. Just the idea, it's like when you go to a baseball game, it's part of the fun, right? Like, having that blast over the speakers when your favorite player walks up to the plate. It's like, it's so fun. And, like, being able to do that in our daily life is really a cool idea. So cool concept. One thing I wanted to mention, too, just for clarity's sake, for the audience that I love about the product, is with the magnetic connection to your belt. First of all, it's a really attractive belt.
Jon LaClare [00:07:52]:
I mean, as you said, it doesn't look like you're wearing a speaker. It looks like you wearing a cool belt. But it. Magnets. Attaches with magnets very strongly, but easily also onto your belt. And you can also take it off and, like, clip it onto the golf cart rail that holds wherever you're at.
Eric Barnhart [00:08:09]:
And that was, you know, that was one of the kind of going through that, you know. Okay. I had the idea, went out on the marketplace to find something that I wanted, and I couldn't find it. You know, kind of a little bit of backstory. You know, my. I've had some entrepreneurial spirit, and through, you know, my mom has her own company, her own interior design company. So very fortunate to watch her grow her business and go out and start that company. Um, 30.
Eric Barnhart [00:08:43]:
More than that. Yeah, 30 plus years ago. Um, 40 years ago maybe. No, 30. And, um, it's really inspiring because it's a little bit easier to. To get resources and information to go and start your own company and go out and do your own thing. And so. But back then, it was a lot harder.
Eric Barnhart [00:08:59]:
Um, so you kind of have that. That entrepreneurial spirit in my blood, and grew up watching, you know, watching my mom create our own company. And then also what, you know, kind of reflecting back, you know, music has been a huge part of my life. I love playing sports, love being outside. My dad is an amazing guitar player and singer. And so I grew up with Beatles, knowing every. Almost every song, Beatles song out there, and all the lyrics and the oldies, sixties and seventies music. So that was instilled very early this just for this love of music.
Eric Barnhart [00:09:35]:
And I didn't get a, you know, my dad tried to teach me to play guitar when I was younger, but I didn't have the patience for it. I just wanted to be outside playing sports, baseball, football, golf, basketball. And so, you know, kind of fast forward all these years. You know, music's always been something that I truly enjoy and part of a lot of things that I do. And then, you know, having, you know, this, this background from my, you know, my mom's entrepreneurial spirit and watching her create a company, I had the opportunity to go to school and went to University of South Florida, went through their master's program in entrepreneurship, and so went through that, met some amazing people, and kind of got the foundation for new product development, patenting, just kind of. But really, from the educational perspective, it's really, once you get, you actually start to apply it, that's when you really get your education going through the fire of that. So. But while I was at USF, I had an opportunity to meet one of the original sharks from Shark Tank.
Eric Barnhart [00:10:42]:
Kevin Harrington lives in St. Pete. I was living in, my wife and I were living in St. Pete at the time, and I reached out to him, just cold called him and said, hey, I'm going through the entrepreneurship program out at USF. At the time, they were number four in the nation and just asked if he would be generous enough to give his time and come speak to the class. And I met him, and we instantly hit it off. He loves to play golf. I love to play golf.
Eric Barnhart [00:11:07]:
So we started getting together and playing golf pretty regularly. He came and spoke to the class. It was really exciting to see how that was received by the students. And so we've been friends with him for over 15 years. And so when I had this idea, had gotten to the point where I couldn't go to sleep without thinking about, you know, go to bed without thinking about it or wake up without thinking about it. And, you know, I was like, okay, is this just going to be an idea that, that I talk about? Hey, I had this idea one time, or am I actually going to, you know, take that leap of faith and the risk and overcome the fear that I, that I had to launch a company and put myself out there and time, energy and money, and it was a scary step.
Jon LaClare [00:11:57]:
One other use that I really like about the bump in speakers or bumping belts is for, for me in Colorado. You and I talked about this is hiking, right? So very different from Florida. But around here, that's kind of our outdoor activity that most people do, like climbing or walking up mountains, really small ones, for my sake, whatever. But being in the outdoors, I've kept my phone in my pocket playing music, even on a small, low volume, because it keeps the bears away. Mountain lions, they don't really want to approach you. So just having a little bit of noise, at least the last thing you want to do is walk through the woods or on a trail with your family and be really quiet. You want to make sure that they hear footsteps, they hear you talking or some music playing. And it's super cool to have the speaker on your belt projecting this much better sound than your phone in your pocket or whatever it might be.
Jon LaClare [00:12:44]:
We're just getting into hiking season now as we approach summer, so I'm super excited to use it. As you mentioned, a lot more uses for the product as well. I want to shift gears a little bit and talk about the marketing or the business side of the product. One of the first things you did was you launched the product at the PGA show. So you talk a little bit about what were your learnings at a very specific trade show like that and how did it help propel your business.
Eric Barnhart [00:13:08]:
Yeah, so, you know, obviously coming up with the idea in golf and having a love for the game for so long, you know, you have to launch in a space. And so I came up with this idea on the golf course and have some. Some relationships in the golf space. So it just kind of made sense to, let's start with golf. Right? Music in golf can be a little divisive depending on kind of who you're talking to. Over the years, it's gotten more prevalent where there's music in the golf cart. Again, my thought behind that is I'm not going to be the loudest speaker out there. I want it to sound amazing, but just for your personal space and not impede or encroach on anyone else's experience.
Eric Barnhart [00:13:48]:
So the PGA show was kind of like, it's in my backyard, it's in Orlando, and it's like, okay, this is a great conference. There's a lot of great products that launch in golf, ranging from the gamut from all over the place went to the PGA show just, you know, mainly. That was one of the goals that I had on the calendar of say, hey, okay, if we finish, looks like we're wrapping up prototype and design right around end of the summer. Kind of bled into September, October, but, you know, having Mike and Derek Locker, as, you know, in my corner, you know, they have manufacturing relationships that they've established over the last 30 years with the company that they own. Cozy, baby. So they have a lot of trusted relationships, and they said, hey, look, we can, you know, you can get your. Get this prototype and everything wrapped up by this date. We can get a manufacturer to get production samples for the PGA show so we can launch in January.
Eric Barnhart [00:14:46]:
At the PGA show. At the time, it was production samples, so we were pre ordering, offering it for pre sales. But, you know, launching there, it was. It was eye opening to, you know, I've been to the show one time before as a guest spectator there, but to be there and actually have the booth and all of the things that we had to do to get ready for that. From the marketing perspective, I mean, I was drinking from the fire hose, to say the least. But what was really exciting, and I knew, you know, from my. My findings that there wasn't any product like this on the market. And so being at the PGA show, it was overwhelmingly just.
Eric Barnhart [00:15:29]:
We were swamped the entire time because you have all these established brands. You have, you know, golf clubs and, you know, clothing manufacturers and all of the different, you know, speaker company, sunglasses, all the stuff, and yet here's this thing that no one had ever seen before of, like, wait, a belt buckle speaker. I got to see this. And people were coming and seeking us out and circling it on their calendar, like, on their schedule of saying, I got. I have to see this booth and see what this is all about. And out of that, the feedback was amazing. You know, the ability to demo the product in person closes that gap between what your idea of a belt buckle speaker is and to see the thought, the intention, and, you know, I'm proud of the quality that we were able to get out of this. You know, this first iteration of the bumper belt.
Eric Barnhart [00:16:23]:
It was just one thing I like.
Jon LaClare [00:16:24]:
To say about trade shows. Yeah, that's awesome. It's a great way to jump off a business. And I don't know whether you were consciously thinking this or not, but I think you followed the perfect approach. When you're launching a product at a trade show, a lot of people will go to a show that perfectly fits their product, like, so, for a speaker product, you might think ces, the consumer electronics show, where it's you and, I don't know, hundreds of other bluetooth very different from yours. Right. But they're still speakers. Right.
Jon LaClare [00:16:52]:
It's really hard to stand out, even though it's a fit. What I love about you launching at the PGA show, and this is a similar process we follow with our own business, with a lot of our clients as well, when you're thinking trade shows. But so for us as a marketing agency, we don't want to go to a trade show where we're getting a booth and we're next to 100 other marketing agencies. Right. We believe we're better at a lot of different things, but how do you stand out and even get noticed in the clutter like that? And same thing goes for you. I think what you've done well is you find a trade show that fits your product well. It's got to make sense. You can't go to somewhere random and be the only one there, but no one's looking for you.
Jon LaClare [00:17:26]:
You want to have something that fits your product, the right audience, but that you'll also stand out. So you were certainly the only belt buckle speaker, I suspect probably the only speaker or anything like that. So you stand out and it grabs attention. I mean, you've got a golf club, a new putter that's better than the rest, a gazillion of those at shows like that, when you can really stand out in an audience that really fits. That's a great way to think about trade shows specifically. But really, any form of marketing, I'd.
Eric Barnhart [00:17:54]:
Say, yeah, that was very helpful. And I think the uniqueness of how a belt's a commodity, a speaker's commodity, but how do I intentionally bring those two things together to create a unique experience? And so that was kind of the foundation of launching this. I did not want this to just be one unique product because there's a shelf life to that, right? After a while, everybody's seen it and they don't want to purchase it. So it's like, how do I create something that not only is unique and interesting, that has applications in golf, but with that thinking in mind, really wanted to create something that really has a bigger application outside of golf. Really anywhere where you want to share music or enjoy music, be aware of your surroundings and make it a little bit more convenient to listen to music and think about listening to music in different ways that you might not normally have done before because, you know, grabbing a portable speaker and throwing it in a bag or, you know, carrying something a little bit bulkier was just a little bit of an inconvenience. And so, you know, how can, how can we make something that you can wear? It looks great, and now you're listening a little bit of music while you're watching your kids soccer practice and you're talking to your, you know, the other dads, and it's just, you know, music is starting to be incorporated in other areas where it wasn't before in the past. You know, you go to the grocery store, you hear music in the background. You go to the gas pump.
Eric Barnhart [00:19:25]:
You're listening to music while you're pumping gas. So, you know, that was kind of the bigger idea of saying, okay, I don't want just a golf related product, but something that kind of, you know, the share the passion of music and, you know, people have fun, really. It's just, that's what it's about. I want. I want people to buy this thing and enjoy it and find other ways to wear it in different settings and just to have fun while they're doing that. And so launching at the PGA show was great. Getting that, that feedback, you know, obviously a ton of connections that we, you know, golf shops coming through, tournament tea gifts was, you know, one of the kind of the first things that we were hearing from, from folks, hey, this would be perfect tea gift for our upcoming, you know, charity scramble or corporate outing or member, member, member, guest. So we're just scratching the surface.
Eric Barnhart [00:20:21]:
I mean, we got our inventory in July of 2023, so not even a year. And the majority of our business, you know, a couple conferences went to the PGA show again in 2024 and the PGA headquarters meeting in December of 2023. So really three conferences that we've been to all around golf. But, you know, I'd like to move a lot quicker. It just as kind of, we've chatted. It's a marathon. And finding the, you know, working on the business and in the business at the same time. Being a small startup and wearing all of these hats, you can only do so many things, and so.
Eric Barnhart [00:20:58]:
But we have big plans to expand and into other markets, you know, outdoor related markets. You know, Pickleball is another big one that we keep getting feedback from folks. Construction industry. It's been interesting to have folks come back and say, oh, my gosh, I own a construction company. This is perfect for the job site. You can listen to music, be aware of your surroundings. You can talk to the other coworkers, the other construction site members, and it's safer than having your headphones in or a big speaker in the middle of the house that's blasting music. It's just cool when people get that and then their mind starts going.
Jon LaClare [00:21:38]:
Absolutely. So last thing I want to talk about is success that you've had with running a viral video. Very early on in your tenure, as you launched this business, you had a video that really went viral on social channels. So first of all, let me share it with our audience. So take a look at this video. All right, so, Eric, you shot that video yourself. And I think one of the important things for our audience to realize or understand about marketing today versus 1020 years ago is not every video needs to be of the utmost premium quality. And I say that as a video producer, right.
Jon LaClare [00:22:45]:
We've produced hundreds of national tv spots over the years, and there's a place for it, right. Most campaigns, especially as they grow, whether it's tv or digital, you've got to have some premium videos as you build your business. But in the early days, you can get away with, call it gritty or real videos, especially when they realize, hey, this is the founder, they're involved in it, or whatever it might be. There's certainly a place for it. And you saw it go viral, but you also saw it drive sales. Can you talk a little bit about your own process? Because your background is not video marketing, being a video producer, but you put something together pretty compelling and fun, and it really drove a difference in the sales. And earlier, your business, how'd you get that done?
Eric Barnhart [00:23:25]:
Yeah, so, you know, obviously launching a product and, you know, we direct a consumer, you know, use Instagram and social media predominantly for sharing pictures of my family and things we were doing and keeping up with other folks. So aware of that. And, you know, but my background is not, you know, social media nor, you know, making things for being good at videos going viral. But, yeah, I think one of the things that kind of started to do prior to getting the production sample that I could actually hold physically take out to the golf course and try it out was looking at other content in my space and how they were doing it. The biggest thing is authenticity. Right? And so you kind of, with your phone and social media, you can create a window into your world, like never be, you know, seen before in the history of marketing and media, right, prior to social media becoming more prevalent. So it was like, okay, well, what are the things that I see that I like, right? And, you know, I created this thing, you know, playing golf, and I wanted to take my own walk up music to the tee box. So soon as that thing, the speaker arrived, I got it.
Eric Barnhart [00:24:53]:
I was like, it was like Christmas for me and my wife and I and the kids went to the golf course, played nine holes, and I was, you know, my wife was filming. I was like, okay, just you know, start, you know, on a close up of the speaker so we can show what it looks like. And then I'm going to take it off, put it on my belt and show that it's mag, you know, magnetic magnets to your belt. And I'm just going to walk up and hit a golf ball and, you know, and post it and see what happens. Right. And so I wish to say that I knew how to make every video go viral. I don't. But very quickly, I think that the uniqueness of, what is this thing? Oh, wait a minute.
Eric Barnhart [00:25:33]:
What's this guy doing? And I had more of my loud golf shirt to add some more flair, if you will, to the video. And then, you know, obviously getting it, playing music, it was like this unique experience that, you know, and I think I, out of the gate, I just quickly wrote something that was a really good hook. And you only have people's attention for, you know, less than a second or 2 seconds before they scroll on to the next thing. And I just wrote, you know, I wanted my own walk up music to the tee box. So I invented this new product and it was, you know, blew up. People were posting and sharing and commenting, and very quickly you got to realize you got to have thick skin because now it's not your friends and family going, oh, my gosh, it's so great that you went to the beach. I haven't seen you guys in a while. You know, you have great comments, and then you have people that just, you know, love to say whatever they want to say.
Eric Barnhart [00:26:36]:
And so it's like, hey, wait, I didn't hit the ball in the woods. I'm not a horrible golfer. What are you talking about? But no, you gotta, you know, take the good with the bad. And the fact that they were talking about it means that you have something in your home that people are interested in, whether they want to buy it.
Jon LaClare [00:26:54]:
Engagement of any source is helpful, positive or negative, can really help propel your business forward. Obviously, the balance, if all of it's negative. Okay, maybe I got to retool my messaging a little bit, right? But any viral video or really successful campaign launch is going to have negative comments coming in because people are harsh on the Internet.
Eric Barnhart [00:27:12]:
And music, you got to have quick skin. As you said, music and golf is a divisive topic. I mean, you're gonna have people argue both sides. And so, you know, the biggest thing that for me, and this is where, you know, the thick skin comes in is like, you know, this is the, you know, there's no place for music on the golf course. I mean, it got. You could get as bad as you can imagine. The reality of it is, you know, I love the game of golf just as much as, you know, anybody who loves golf and grew up in the game. And I would never want to intentionally create something that was going to take away from that.
Eric Barnhart [00:27:46]:
In fact, I purposely created this product to enhance people who want to have that, but not be invasive on others. And so, you know, I respect it too much, but, you know, you can't get that. That messaging out in the world as easily with, you know, just showing a picture of what your thing does. You know, they can, their imaginations go wherever they want to and say whatever they want to say. So. So, yeah, so that. That getting that to go viral and having a couple others in the beginning and really coming out of the gate quickly was exciting, scary, and, you know, like, okay, you know, we got something, but, you know, it's. It's.
Eric Barnhart [00:28:27]:
It's such a. There's just so many things to do. And so we launched on direct to consumer last year. That was where majority of our business, 95% of our business, on our website, it's bumping speakers now. But we were booming belts, and we were rebranding to bumping speakers because we launched as boom and belts with one product. But we have a second product that came up with. And really, you know, my focus is trying to intentionally design products around what I think is one of the most versatile speakers, being that it's magnetic and its form factor so that you can take music with you in different ways. So if you.
Eric Barnhart [00:29:12]:
If you're not a big belt person or you got a ton of really nice belts that you love, and this wouldn't be one in your arsenal, then, you know, you might be interested in the tumbler with our speaker, and it interchanges between the belt, same speaker belt and the tumbler. And now we can, you know, hopefully open up the market to both male and female customers. Belts tends to be a little bit more male targeted demographic with, you know, kind of the size, you know, thickness of the belt so that it has a secure, you know, the buckle is wide enough and secure so that the speaker can sit securely magnet onto it or into it. So, yeah, we got. This is a prototype. You guys are seeing it for the first time here of our tumbler, that magnets into the side. And as you can see now, it's intentionally designed into the cup. I don't have the lid on it right now, but.
Eric Barnhart [00:30:10]:
And so now when it's in a cup holder. You can easily hear the music. It's water resistant. Take this out to the beach. Boating, camping, hiking, biking. Probably not biking, but camping and hiking. You can easily now bring music with you and then take this off and pop that on your belt if you want to wear your belt that day as well.
Jon LaClare [00:30:32]:
That's awesome. Love to see the continued product development. I want to mention one thing for our audience sake, because I think it may have been, I want to make sure it's clear, not one of the nuances, but you alluded to this as you talked about viral videos a little bit. You had a couple of videos go viral. It really drove the early success of the business. Ever since then, not every video has gone viral. I think you mentioned that's normal for a business for you, it was great because it was kind of to keep things simple. Videos number one and two were fantastic and had virality.
Jon LaClare [00:31:00]:
And maybe three, four or five didn't. Right. Other businesses may launch videos one, two and three and nothing hits. And then video four, video five starts to hit and really become viral. So something to think about when you're viral video marketing, or just general video marketing strategy is it comes down to variety. So there's really, I would say, two ways to make a really successful viral video marketing campaign. One is big spend. So everyone always mentions the dollar shave club.
Jon LaClare [00:31:27]:
Like that video of the owner walking through the factory and everyone's seen it. It's been millions and millions of views. What they don't think about is agents put that on YouTube and it generated millions of views. There was a lot of money that went behind it a little bit in production, but really in buying media initially and really propelling it forward. That's one way. The other way is by true virality, by having it spread on its own. It takes some skill, but also a little bit of luck. Right? So it's a game of variety.
Jon LaClare [00:31:55]:
So I encourage everyone, as you think about video marketing strategy is don't just put all your eggs in one basket with one video. And if it works, great. If it doesn't, I'm done, right. There is a game of getting variety and volume in there because it may be video three that really takes off. Right? So don't quit after video number two, for example. So for you, it was great. It was one of the early videos, but it does take volume. Some will take off and they'll be spot on.
Jon LaClare [00:32:18]:
And it's a little bit hard to predict. And there's a science behind types of videos that work in general. But there's still a game of learning, truly, as you go. I do want to mention to our audience. Oh, go ahead.
Eric Barnhart [00:32:30]:
I was just going to say you hit the nail on the head. We kind of stumbled into the first one going viral and thinking, okay, well, this will be easy, right? And it's not. And there's a lot of noise, if you will, or a lot of people that are vying for your attention and eyeballs on social media for various reasons. And so, but one of the things that's really difficult, I'd say for me even still, is, you know, getting out of the mindset of like, okay, you know, I'm working on this. I'm, you know, I have all these things that I'm working on and now I got to go, I'm going to go make a video, right. And something that's entertaining and engaging, you know, that's tough because it's, you know, I want to take some thought and consideration into it to create something that's interesting and different. But, you know, you're not going to hit a home run or even have a, you may not even have a base hit. You may strike out on a lot of them.
Eric Barnhart [00:33:24]:
But just getting, you know, I encourage to look, if it's outside your comfort zone, there's going to be a lot of things. If you're an entrepreneur or wanting to be an entrepreneur that's outside of your comfort zone. And you have to embrace it, right. You have to embrace it. You are going to be uncomfortable. And, you know, John, this isn't the first time you've done a podcast interview and you're amazing. And I'm sure if you go back in your catalog and look at the first time you did, there's some things that you see that maybe most people wouldn't, but say, okay, you know, but that repetition and just keep doing it and keep at it. And, you know, putting in those, you know, the 10,000 hours mantra and just keep putting it.
Eric Barnhart [00:34:01]:
You're going to look back and, you know, at some point you're going to get better at it. And the average video, if you're, if your goal is to get eyeballs on it or your goal is to get someone to click through and to sign up for a, you know, sign up on a form for some service you provide or, you know, book an appointment, that's going to get better as you start to learn from what's working, what's not and just continuing to do it, continuing to do it. The biggest thing, too, that I'd say is people want to see authenticity, right? They want to see who you really are. So if you're consistently trying to post stuff and it can work, I mean, I'm not saying it, this is a hard, fast rule, but if you're constantly, it's like production this and you're trying to sell that, people are going to start flipping through it after, you know, after the newness wears off. So how can you post stuff that is letting people to see inside that window in your life and the authenticity that comes with it? And that's tough too, right? Because there's like, I don't want, you know, everything in my, you know, my, you know, I want some of its mine. Like, I don't want to share that with the, with the rest of the world. But, you know, when you're out there and you're trying to launch something and that's your baby, you know, you need to start to kind of think about how can you connect with that person. And being authentic is kind of one of the stronger ways to do that.
Jon LaClare [00:35:23]:
This has been a lot of fun. So thanks for taking the time. I know how busy you are running your business with all that you have going on in your life. So I appreciate taking this time to share your story with our audience. I do encourage our audience. Please go visit boomanbelt.com, that's spelled boominbelts.com, to learn more. To see his line of products and all the work that he's done. Check out his video.
Jon LaClare [00:35:45]:
You can follow on Instagram and Facebook and other platforms as well. Eric, thanks so much again for joining the show today.
Eric Barnhart [00:35:50]:
Thank you, John, thank you so much.
Jon LaClare [00:35:52]:
Did you know you can meet with a member of my team absolutely free for a 30 minutes strategy consultation? We've launched and grown hundreds of products since 2007 and learned some of our strategies while growing oxiclean back in the Billy Mays days. We're here to help. So please go to harvestgrowth.com and set up a call if you'd like to discuss further.