"I was late to my Shark Tank audition." Today's guest, Seneca Hampton, shares his journey of entrepreneurship -- and how it isn't always a linear path.
From starting more than twenty businesses before he landed on the "successful one," Seneca shared how being resilient and consistent eventually led to his multi-million dollar booming business, Hampton Adams.
Listen to our chat about using athletic tape, selling on Amazon, geeking out on marketing, and how keeping things simple eventually led to his success. Plus, if you've ever wanted to hear what the experience of being on Shark Tank is like (like I did!), you won't want to miss Seneca's story!
"I was late to my Shark Tank audition." Today's guest, Seneca Hampton, shares his journey of entrepreneurship -- and how it isn't always a linear path.
From starting more than twenty businesses before he landed on the "successful one," Seneca shared how being resilient and consistent eventually led to his multi-million dollar booming business, Hampton Adams.
Listen to our chat about using athletic tape, selling on Amazon, geeking out on marketing, and how keeping things simple eventually led to his success. Plus, if you've ever wanted to hear what the experience of being on Shark Tank is like (like I did!), you won't want to miss Seneca's story!
What was it like being on Shark Tank? What a fun question, right? And it is one that I could not wait to hear the answer from today's guest. So I have such a special treat for you today, if you have been looking for an inspiring story about entrepreneurship, being in business for yourself, and what that looks like, and from being on Shark Tank, like oh my gosh, Seneca Hampton story is so fascinating. So Seneca is an entrepreneur with multiple seven to eight figure businesses, from E commerce to logistics, consulting and speaking and he's responsible for over one quarter of a billion dollars in sales, and has touched over 5000 products, and 20 different categories. So if you have ever thought about Amazon, or selling something on Amazon, or anything to do with a physical product, you are going to love today's conversation. And we totally geeked down about marketing and business and all the cool things that he has done. And it's been really cool to really reflect on this interview and go back and I was just like taking notes listening back to it because it was so awesome. I could talk to him for hours, like we realize like, oh my gosh, okay, we gotta we got to tone it down. We have to stop this conversation because it could just have kept going forever. I loved his personality, I loved his ability to be so open. And I feel like genuinely that he has a heart to help other people that are just like you that are trying to start a business trying to run a business trying to really build something that's going to have legacy and last and I hope that you walk away from today's conversation with so many nuggets of wisdom. So without further ado, let's get into today's episode, the interview with Seneca. Welcome to the Prophet podcast where we teach you how to start launch and market your content with confidence. I'm your host, Krystal Proffitt, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today. Because if you've been trying to figure out the world of content creation, this is the show that will help be your time saving shortcut. So let's get right to it, shall we? All right, profit podcast listeners. I'm so excited for today's guest. Welcome to the show. Seneca. How are you today?
Seneca Hampton:I am good. I'm feeling really good. And I'm excited. I'm pumped up and ready to go.
Krystal Proffitt:Yes. Okay. So we just have to start like from the top. You were on Shark Tank. Let's just call it what it is. We have this. It's funny, because I was like, how are we going to intro this? Because I actually met Mark Cuban last year at a podcast Conference, which of all the places in the world why would I ever meet him at a podcast conference, right? But I was like, Okay, let's let's How do I segue this like, I'm gonna be all like, super cool interview and slip it in. I don't know how to do that. So just you were on Shark Tank. That's freaky deal. So let's just start right there. What was that experience like? Like all the things we have to know?
Seneca Hampton:Ah, man, the experience on Shark Tank, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I was very nervous leading up to doing it. And it wasn't because I was going to be on TV wasn't because I was going to be standing for the sharks. I was nervous because like any business entrepreneur, business owner, the narrative. Yeah, it's very important, right? Especially marketing, right? It's like the narrative is so important, and how things are are seen and the story is told. And so I was really like nervous, like, Oh, my goodness, I hope that they hope that they portray this in an accurate light. And so that was the probably the most nerve wracking part. But the experience was like I don't I've never like I've never done skydiving, but I I almost equate it to some extreme sport because your adrenaline is pumping. The process to get from the beginning to the end is a roller coaster. And when you come off of it, your adrenaline is pumping for hours after and then you finally come down and you just you crash not in a like negative way but in a like I need to take about an eight hour nap.
Krystal Proffitt:Oh my goodness. Yeah. I'm sure I'm sure. And I mean, so I'm sure there's like probably, you know, trade secrets that you can't share when you're on the show. But whenever you left, what was the first thought like did you call your wife did you call somebody in your family like what what was the first thought running through your mind like, that just happened. Like what? What was that first moment? Like? Like once you were finished with your whole pitch, you were done. Were you just relieved, like walk us through that?
Seneca Hampton:I was relieved that I've remembered that feeling. This is actually a really good question. Nobody's ever asked me that question. I remember feeling relieved. For sure. The other question that went through my head was, was Mark serious. That was as I was leaving him, like, was he serious? Or was he just joking? Or was that like the did that just really happen? Yeah. And then I'm walking out and I'm like, okay, ah, I got through it. I did it. And then the thought of, Okay, what's next? And it was it was, it was like a, that was a big question that literally took months to eat through. Yeah, after doing that, that thing. But yeah, those were my thoughts. When I left. I was like, Okay, what's the serious and, and he was, by the way, like, I can't share a lot. So they say this on Shark Tank. They say, Shark Tank is like Fight Club. Right? What happens at Shark? Like, there is no such thing as Fight Club. You don't mention Fight Club. So there's things you can't talk about, right, that led up to, etc, etc. I do have funny stories, though. I think I probably have the most interesting story leading up to Shark Tank. I think I'll top everybody's story. But, um, but I mean, going through that thing was was definitely a roller coaster. The emotions are running high, you come off of this high of this roller coaster, and then it's back to business. And it's almost like, okay, cool. That was great. Wonderful. Put it on the shelf. shine it up. Look at that. That's cool. Boom. Let's keep going. Yeah, kind of the approach that I took.
Krystal Proffitt:Yeah, this is so awesome. I love hearing that. I'm sure it was a big milestone. And then you're just like, Okay, we got to get back to business. Like we got to get back to work. And people are listening right now. And they're like, Krystal, what is his business? Like? They're Googling your name. They're like, what it's even do y'all been talking about shark tank? So I want to talk about Hampton Adams now because like, I just want to, I want to get right to it as an athlete, former athlete limitless, let's go back. former athlete and someone who now like does like mental health stuff, like I do a lot of walking. This is more but back in the day, like I was a volleyball player. I was a cheerleader. Like I did all the things. And your product. I use something so similar to it every single day. So tell everybody about Hampton Adams and what it does and how it helps people.
Seneca Hampton:Yes. So I was talking to my insurance adjuster today because they were they're doing an audit they typically do if you have you know, business, they do an audit and your insurance. And she goes so what do you guys do? And I Oh, we sell flooding tapes. She goes, Wait, what? She looks at our numbers because they need your top line revenue. She goes, Wait, that's it? Yes, that's what we do. So Hanson Adams is I categorize this as a sports medicine brand. Our goal is to make products in regards to sports medicine, sports recovery, that allow the the athlete to perform longer, stronger, better. And so there are a lot of products and start so small with us with athletic tape, specifically, if you've used it before kinesiology tape, athletic tape, bandage, wrap, all that stuff. The adhesive is important. And I think, especially in today's kind of climate and generation people are allergic to virtually everything. Yeah. And so what we've tried to do is remove a lot of the things that cause people to have allergic reactions from the adhesive, which makes it healthier, and then solve a lot of the just quality of life problems that you have. If you're an athlete, you know what I mean? Ripping, tearing tape, it's sticking and staying it being too sticky or not sticky enough. It not coming off the roll all that stuff. So we really put a lot of time and effort into solving it to making it just like I love this stuff. It's easy to use. It always performed.
Krystal Proffitt:Yeah, this is so funny because I like I said I was an athlete, my brothers played football and my oldest or my, my middle. I have two older brothers. So one of them went on to play college ball. And I have such vivid visual memories of him, just yanking it, tearing it and coming off in pieces. And he looks like a wild animal like because he's trying to wrap himself up and he's doing all these things. And I'm like, okay, so I know exactly what you're talking about when it comes to the adhesive and all the challenges that you see. But now you have this business and it's helping so many people and I just have to give you kudos because I think it's such a cool brand that you have and what you're moving forward with. But I did kind of a deep dive on your YouTube channel. And all the fun things that you were talking about because you are in good company here was Seneca because you said you're an optimization nerd. Well, I'm a marketing nerd and I and optimization and SEO and all the things. And so I just wanted to ask like, what is the thing about creating a brand or marketing a brand or business that keeps you going when things get a little tough? Because I'm sure you've seen some ups and downs in your journey.
Seneca Hampton:Yes, I have seen things that literally would, would keep you up at night. Example, I've had things held up by FDA, by customs customs or federal agents. And I'm talking 30,000 100,000 $200,000 worth of stuff held captive, and they're asking you for stuff that you're, you're like my entire businesses. So I've gone through that I've gone through people using it and using it incorrectly. And then it's just a lot of the list goes on. Let's goes on. Um, I think the thing that kind of keeps me going is why I do what I do. The brand is actually named after my parents. And so to me, it's a it's, it's my head nod. It's me paying homage to the both of them. And I watched as a kid, I have eight siblings, I watched them put us on their back and carry us through life. And it was hard, it was not easy at all. Everything, you know, the entire gamut of drugs, alcohol, all that crazy stuff. And still to be able to watch them. My mom quit drugs and alcohol, alcohol went to school. I think she was like 3637. And I'm there I think I'm in middle school, and I'm watching her graduate and she becomes a nurse. And then I watched my dad who worked on crab boats and Alaska. He worked construction he whatever he could do to provide and send all his money home, I watched him go back to San Jose finish his degree to come to become a industrial X ray technician. And I saw I saw them literally do this, as they're trying to provide the best life that they could for us. Eight of us living in a one bedroom, and watching that progression going to something bigger and just it was it was something that I'll never forget. And so for me to build this brand and when it gets hard, it's not just about me, it's not about you know, oh, I have a cool brand. And, and it's really funny before Shark Tank, you've probably never heard of me. And that was on purpose. Because I it's not about me and me being in the spotlight. Right? I'm out I have I have two kids a four year old and a five year old. And I want to build something for them so that they can see and not just the business. But who I have to become in order to build that business is is what is so important to me of like you got to be a hard worker you got to be consistent, you got to be persistent, you there are things that you have to be able to do and a person you have to be able to come to become, especially if you want your kids to be that you can't just, you know, preach at them and bark at them. So for me it's a bigger why. With the brand and I grew up playing football, all my brothers played football. My dad was a coach. My mom was a nurse. So you kind of get that sports medicine. It just kind of all tied together. Um, for me, so for me, it's a big, it's bigger than just the business.
Krystal Proffitt:Yeah, yeah. Oh, this is so great. I love hearing people's backstories because I think it just it does, it doesn't so well because I actually went and I was looking at Hampton Adams and I was looking at, you know, your different content pieces that you have out there. And it's really hard to find any of you as far as like, this is Senecas brand on Hampton Adams, like it's very apparent that that's not what it is like, it's like you have awesome photography, by the way. I mean, who knew a visa tape could look so sexy on the website, like, let's be real, like the angles, it looks so good. But I think it's really interesting because like I said, I'm a marketing nerd. I love looking at how products are really presented out into the world to solve a problem. And I wanted to talk about another piece of your story. And that's selling stuff on Amazon, like, oh my gosh, you have all this incredible experience on the world's largest platform. And I'm sure that that also comes with its pros and its cons. So tell us a bit about that. Because a lot of people in our audience aren't necessarily selling products on Amazon. But I know that there are some stories or some lessons learned that you've had to learn about marketing along the way. So do you have any insights that you can share?
Seneca Hampton:Yes, this this conversation, just the Amazon side of things. This is a four to five hour conversation. It is it when it was the Wild West it was you know, imagine literally just try and close your eyes and imagine you know, bandits walking through town and no one's doing anything about it and literally in like having a sheriff and he's just kind of there. It's It was literally that when I started and it's improved dramatically now. But in terms of Mark Getting, the beautiful thing about Amazon to me is that the there's the whole supply and demand thing, right? A lot of people I found try to start a business or of any kind, whether it be a physical product, digital good, right? Course whatever it is, and they're trying to sell what they like, and not what customers want. And the beautiful thing about Amazon is, it will literally tell you if people want what you have. And it's almost an instant feedback you get because of how you have to market or present your product. One of the things that I found to be very, very effective on Amazon is is reviews right? I, regardless of the business, it doesn't matter what it is like this, this is gold like this, this literally changed everything for me. I literally would jump on a Facebook, I would jump onto forums, I would jump on wherever and I would literally just look at what are people talking about? What are the things that they complain about, with products that they're currently using? What are the things they love and rave about what products that they're that they're using? And I just literally went okay, well mine has to do all this. And it can't do all of that. It's so simple, right? In theory, but now it's how do I articulate that to somebody. And I think that's the important part. And I think for that that's either either got the gift of gab, right, and you can translate it into writing. There's some people that are, you know, literary literary gurus, I hate writing, by the way, my wife asked me to write something the other day, and I ever find it with I dislike writing, I load it with a passion, she goes me too. Or, you, you you find a template, a rubric that works, right, or you just go through trial and error. And I think the beautiful thing for me was is I got the opportunity to work at a business that was selling on Amazon. And so I got the opportunity to see or build a rubric or standard while studying while trying. So I was able to kind of, I rolled up my sleeves and Krystal I worked 60 to 80 hours a week because I saw I was like, oh my goodness, I could actually build the business. Like I could build one I could I could do it leverage my time. It was that was the way to me. And so I put everything I had into it. And I had to learn marketing, I had to learn specifically direct response marketing, specifically, direct response marketing is a way to get somebody directly to make a decision. And if you notice on Amazon, depending on what you're looking for, what's your problem? Right, who am I talking to? Who's my customer was there? I think we all know this right? Who's my customer? What's the problem? How do I solve it? But what is their what's their main problem? And what do they wish they had instead? And that's what you sell now is this is what this is what you want, right? People don't want tape that doesn't, that that that rips easily. They don't want to have to deal with the hassle and the headache, right? So it's it's not selling tape. It's selling ease selling peace of mind. It's selling the outcome. And I've learned that buy on Amazon very directly. You don't need pretty pictures on Amazon. If you literally just you show people this is the benefit you get. Yeah. In your in their mind. That's what I wanted. That's what I've been looking for. It's exactly purchased. Yeah. And because there's a 30 day back write money guarantee and all that stuff. Amazon's it's, it's easier than trying to, in my opinion going on, you know, creating your own website, doing your own funnels to your own page. It's much harder because you're talking intent. Now people on Amazon their wallets already in their account, like it's just click Buy. Yes, it's easier, right? versus trying to get and so for me, it's like taking and before I started Amazon, I think I started 22 businesses. Before I started the one that works 22 different businesses, they all failed. They all failed. But I learned a lot along the way. So when I finally got here, it was like, Okay, I'm not starting from zero. I can take all the lessons I learned and put it into this. And specifically a lot of it was it's just marketing psychology, right? It's how do people think and what are they looking for? What what is their their state of mind when they're looking for what they're looking for? And if you can speak as if you're there waiting, the purchase becomes like so much easier. So much easier. So I mean, I've one of my biggest challenges was the people I'm competing with. I'm competing with Johnson and Johnson. Mueller make David like it Hey T tape, I'm competing with big brands. And if you look on Amazon and look at the best sellers list, I'm beating big brands on Amazon. So it's, it's it's been a ride. It's been. I've been my own brand six, six years, but I've been on Amazon for what, eight, nine years. So it's been a journey for sure.
Krystal Proffitt:Yeah, that was gonna be my next question is What year did you kind of start doing all the like Amazon and learning it and like understand that way people can kind of contextually understand how long you've been at this. And you didn't just say, Oh, I'm gonna do this last year?
Unknown:No, while No, I think I think that's the biggest. And as I was like, myself, like trying to figure it out, I think that was one of the biggest discourages for me is I felt like, it wasn't happening quick. It wasn't happening quick. And now being here, literally 10 years later, I'm going, oh, it just took time and persistence. That's all it took. And I say that's all that's not easy to be patient and consistent and persistent, even when it's like this isn't moving or working. But I was on the Amazon platform, I want to say two to three years before I even sold my own products. So I had all that practice and experience. And I think before that I had a I touched around what 1500 different types of products. And then that grew over 5000 different types of products over time of me actually doing it. So I got a lot of experience under my belt before I was able to kind of jump on. So I was able to have someone pay for my schooling.
Krystal Proffitt:Yeah, so to speak. Yeah. Oh, my gosh, I mean, I think that you just gave so many people listening a huge gift just then about saying, it wasn't your first business you tried to start it wasn't your second, it was your 23rd I guess it was your 23rd business. Wow. I mean, like, I think that that is so inspiring. And like you said, it's like that persistence pays off, and just keeping at it and trying. But I have to imagine that you came to a point where maybe your 21st business was like almost taking off, like where was that like, kind of position where you had to say, Okay, this is the thing like, have to go all in? Did you have to make a big investment? Did you have to get strategic? Like, what was that kind of catalyst to really say, this is the one I'm gonna go all in on.
Seneca Hampton:So I have on my phone, I sat down one day, and I listed all the businesses because I was wondering, like, how, how did I get here? Because I feel like whatever I was doing, I need to continue to continue to do and not forget, trying to see if I can find that list. If I can't, it's okay. I remember I started a I started a record label. I don't know what I was thinking doing that looking back a lot of these visits, I look back and I'm like, what were you I started a whole LLC, all this stuff out of order. It's like I'm gonna start a record label. I created my logo. And then I created my LLC. And then I got business cards, and it was like, You have no no clients. Yeah. What are you doing? I think I was like eight teens, I was just, I had no idea, right? And then a few businesses later, I tried to start an app, right for the iPad, when the when the App Store first launched, it was like, oh, it's called tutor me now. And it's a whiteboard app where people can sit and this is before you had like, I'm gonna say screen sharing, but like on the iPad where you could actually like write and someone could see what you're writing before all that stuff, right? And so I was like, tutor me now this is gonna be it and I dropped five grand on wireframes. And I'm like, wait, and I got them back. I'm like, this isn't wireframe. I could just so many lessons of things that I was just like, Oh my goodness. Yeah. That eventually led me to a clothing line that I started. I started a clothing line. And we still hold the trademark for it and the clothing line was a min right so it was the AMD and Amen. Which I was like nobody's trademarked amen for clothing like That's insane. And so I started sculpting on the first month or two. It was literally me on Twitter's is when Twitter was like amazing. And I'm literally like responding on Facebook. I'm responding to every single person who comments I'm posting I'm sending stuff to people. I'm going to events I'm walking outside and like shaking the like I'm hustling. This is like me actually. I'm like okay, we$30,000 in one month. Okay, now the financial illiteracy I spent all that money paying off like I think it was like, Oh, I'm gonna pay off my credit cards and it was like But your credit cards don't produce any money for the business. You're just paying that off because you don't want so there were a lot of lessons that I just had to learn along the way of like, Ah, okay, I see. Oh, okay. So when I finally got to In this process, funny story, I'd never heard of passive income until I was like 2122. But I had always wanted, I just didn't know what the word was. And that was just a lack of vocabulary, education. And so I sat once I learned that word, I think I spent, I want to say three to $4,000. On my credit card, yeah, 20 something year old kids stupid. But I spent all that money on books, on seminars, on groups on courses on because I was like, I forget where I read it, but it was like you are your biggest asset. So you have to develop yourself. And it took me developing myself my ability to understand how spreadsheets work. And that sounds so silly. But like Excel is huge, like really, really huge. Financial Statements how those work? Oh, wow, that's huge LLC agreements, how those work, just expanding my vocabulary, so that I understood what I was looking at and what I was talking about and how things work. And so when I finally did jump into something, it was like, Okay, I've got a whole new set of tools and experience to jump into this thing to understand how to do it. So 22 businesses later, it might not take people 22 businesses, that was just my journey. I didn't have somebody sitting next to me pointing and going, Hey, you should do this. Or hey, straight. This is literally me all on my own. Trying to figure it out. I wish I had somebody to sit down and say, Okay, look it just go right here. Do this, do that. But I think I needed that. I think I did.
Krystal Proffitt:Yeah. Oh, well. I love to hear you say by the way, I don't look at that as like you're spending money. You're absolutely investing in yourself. Yeah, that investment in yourself. And it makes me curious, is that something you still do today? Like do you read books? Do you like watch YouTube channels? Like how do you invest in yourself today as you continue to grow your business and just, you know, have like just a life Northstar that you're going towards, like, what does that look like?
Seneca Hampton:Um, I said that this is a principle that I created on my own that I follow. And it was, I forget where I was reading Robert Kiyosaki is Rich Dad, Poor Dad, okay. And this was 10 years ago. So this is like a 10 year thing. And he said something about going to school or was Cashflow Quadrant, one of his books, suddenly about going to school and blah, blah, blah. And this truth hit me of like, Wait, we go to school, and we study hard to do our homework, because we have to. And then we forget everything we studied, because it was just the take the test, right? And we go through school learning, studying, testing, learning, studying, testing, and we throw it all away, because we just want to get through it. And then you get a job. And you you don't do any of that. Yeah, learn study test. You don't do any of it, you just do your job. And I thought this is I was 22. And I was like, I want to be the world's greatest marketer. Right now. I'm like, paraphrasing, pokimane, I want to be a Pokemon master. I want to be a marketing master. And I was working at this job. And I'm like, wait a minute, I need to study marketing. It doesn't stop because you're not in school. And so that translates I'm like, Well, where do I learn? What's my curriculum? What are my books? Where am I where the world is. And so now you have, you have Google, you have lynda.com. You have all these websites you can go to to learn whatever you want. You have YouTube channels, you have Facebook groups, you have free webinars, you have, you know, paid conferences, you have all these places, you have books you have you have podcasts, you have so many. And so I literally whenever I hear a book, I buy it. I literally just open up my books, and I buy it. And I'm like, what was that? And so now every day, right, you get the little notification on your phone, when you hit your goal for reading for the day. I just set us on time. If they have the audio version, I love audio, because I like to pause it and talk to myself. But I will just every day I'm always listening to a book. And I'm stopping and I'm like conversating with myself. Like Wait, did that and I'm processing what I just heard. I'm like, Oh, wow, really interesting. I'm always reading and then I'll be you know, on YouTube. I don't like the mindless stuff on YouTube. It's just not my forte. But I'm always learning. Believe it or not, before we jumped on this podcast, I'm learning how to code in Python. Oh, wow. I'm like, the future is computers and AI and I'm like, why don't I learn how to speak their language and like, do me you know? So I'm now learning how to code in Python. So I'm, I'm always learning something. I think that's just the principle that I have for my own life. It'll never ever stop. I will never know enough. I'm never too smart. I'm never it everything's always changing. Right? And plus the United stay humble. I feel like people always like come with people it's like, I don't know, you tell me. I just learned something cool. And it's just, I don't know, much more pleasant way to kind of go through things. So to answer your question, that's, that's, that's, that's my principle. It's how I live every day is I'm always learning there's, if I ever stop learning, that's when I get depressed. Yeah, yeah, good, I've stopped. And so that's something for me I've learned. I'm like, Ah, I'm feeling good. I'm like, Okay, you need to go to the gym, and then you need to start learning something. And it wakes me right up. And I'm excited about something again, like, Ooh, I'm learning Python. I'm gonna learn how to code and create a program. And now I'm on a whole new path. It's that's just me.
Krystal Proffitt:And it's, it's funny to hear you say that? Because I think that that's the entrepreneurial spirit. I really do. I think that it's the, the reason why you've started, you know, the businesses that you had, and like, why you're doing what you're doing today. And while you're continuing to grow is that it's, I think it's a curiosity that we have inside of us. I know that we have a whole audience listening to us right now. They're like, Oh, my gosh, that's me. That's exactly what I do. Like, I can't be stuck for very long. If I get stuck, I get bored. And I get dangerous when I get bored. And, you know, it's like, just all the positive habits that you can put into yourself is that reinvestment of it's just going to pay off, it's totally going to pay off and for your journey. I think that it's paid off dividends. And now that you said that about AI coming, I'm like, robots need athletic tape, too. I mean, why are we excluding them from your future? Audience? I mean, they're gonna teach you how to run and do all these other things. deliver pizzas? I mean, they may break and who knows? Have you heard of here, the official sponsor of your AI robot?
Seneca Hampton:We're gonna partner with Tesla. Hey, we got you got your robots? Yeah.
Krystal Proffitt:See, we were just started out great business and marketing ideas. Like y'all heard it here. First females has it just trademark this podcast. Okay, we sent it first. Oh, my gosh, syndicate. I get asked you 1000 More questions about marketing and business. But I want to really dive into something you said earlier about direct response marketing. And really, it sounds like that, from the beginning, you've always just been a person in the community wanting to understand your customers and what they want and how you can deliver that solution to them. So for somebody that's listening, we have a lot of people that are just getting started in their online business, or their content creation journey. And they're like, I don't have an audience at all right now. How do I start asking them? What they really want? Do you have any advice for someone that's in that position?
Seneca Hampton:Yeah, it doesn't have to be yours. Right? I think there are customers, their customers buying from everyone and all sorts of things just because they aren't your customer doesn't mean what they have to say, doesn't matter. And I think that if you were to, I don't know, let's say you have a course on. I don't know, basket weaving. It's my mom's favorite example. Basket weaving, I'm sure that there's a course and a community out there. Where there are pages where people literally sit and talk about basket weaving in their free just join them and ask questions and talk and provide them value, right? Or just be curious and ask message people. Hey, I'm really curious. Why do you like basket weaving? What? What type of baskets Do you like? Why are you guys and posting the survey? I really want to let people are more than happy to just kind of help to give you information. I think the other side of it too is there is no easy button. There is no shortcut fast way. There is no, just do this and everything will work it there isn't the most successful people is just there's a guy listen to Alex for Mozi. And they say, they asked him hey, you know what, what makes you successful versus other people? He says time under tension time under weight. It just takes reps. There's no shortcut to it. And so it's okay not to get it right. It's okay. I tell my kids, my five year old and four year old, if they're not breaking something, or they're not destroying something, or they're not, they're not learning. That's all they're doing. Right? And it's just a perspective shift. And I feel like for us as adults, we learn to like, you can't break things and it's wrong to be wrong. And it's that's learning literally, like I don't know, let me ask oops, that wasn't it. Let me try this. Oops, that wasn't it. Let me try it. And you just give yourself the room in the space. So I mean, I hope this is helpful, but you're brand new, you're just starting off and everything. There's so much stuff. There's so much stuff for me to learn. Just pick something. And there was a lady that I worked with when I was 22 years old, my first big boy job and she said how do you eat an elephant and I looked at her I always I'm like, I've never heard that. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't like elephants. They don't sound delicious. And her point was, if you have a big task in front of you, or a big project, how do you how do you attack it? And she said, One bite at a time. That's it. That's the answer. There is no shortcut. And so for those new people, I hope this is helpful to you. If there's so much in front of you, and you don't know what to do, just pick something and enjoy the journey. That's it. Just enjoy the journey as you go through it. Don't be so hard on yourself, give yourself a goal. And just set little goals and complete them and set little goals and complete them and continue through what you're doing isn't your life, right? That life is made up of other things. But this is something that you're trying to do. So just give it its time. You know, push through as hard as you can with what you're doing. Give it everything you can enjoy your life. Enjoy your time with your family, enjoy your health, enjoy all the things that you have, and then come back and try it again. Weave your business into your everyday schedule. If that means staying up to 11 or 12. At night, guess what, you got to stay up to 1112 a night. That's just what it is. And that's okay. There's nothing wrong or bad about that. You should be proud about that. So hopefully that that that's there's no shortcut. But hopefully that that's, that's
Krystal Proffitt:helpful. Yeah, yeah, I think that there's a few little nuggets in there. The one that I want to circle back to is Seneca. I don't know if you know this, I have three young boys at home and for you saying breaking stuff. I'm like, yeah, we've gone through a few lamps upstairs are like the ceiling fan. You know, the like the glass part. We've gone through a few of those. And they have learned and I've just learned that we don't we don't have nice things in our house. This is the moral of the story. We don't maybe when they're all out, maybe that'll happen, but I totally hear me with that
Seneca Hampton:one. Yeah, yeah. My wife bought us white couches, and I still shake my head and I'm like,
Krystal Proffitt:wow, brave woman.
Seneca Hampton:She's very brave. She's very, and yeah, I just I I have to just let it go. I'm like, they're, they're their little scientists. Yeah. And they're just exploring and learning. That's it. Yeah. Okay. I feel better. Yeah,
Krystal Proffitt:exactly. Oh, my gosh. Well, Seneca This has been so amazing. And I have one final segment that I want to go into have a few rapid fire questions. If you're up for those. Okay, hit me. Well, we kind of touched on this a little bit. It was really centered around advice for a brand new business owner or podcaster, or content creator, but I know that you recently started your YouTube channel. So do you have any advice for someone that has an existing business and you're bringing it online for the first time or maybe revamping your brand?
Seneca Hampton:I would say Perfection is the enemy of completion. It won't be perfect. You'll look back and you go I look at all my videos like why in the world did I think that that was then that's okay. That's just what it is accepted. It's okay.
Krystal Proffitt:That's great. Okay, my next one is a two part question. What is the dream podcast you would love to be on? And if you could sit down and interview someone who would be your dream guest
Seneca Hampton:dream podcast. Ooh, Joe Rogan has good fun one. My dream guest that's so tough. There's so many people that I just I would love to pick their brain that's that's a hard one. I can't I can't that's a hard one. And there's there's too many people, too is too many people. I just list all I'm like all six of you sit here are eight of you guys. I want to ask all you guys questions. There's too many. There's too many ads. I don't I don't. I feel bad mentioning one. But I guess Elon Musk could be a really great one to just sit down. And what I really admire about Elon Musk is two things, his purposeless purposefulness, like he's very purposeful. And it seems that his businesses serve a purpose. Right? We want to make the, you know, human species, interplanetary, important to him, Tesla, and all these companies feed into the vision. And I just I admire that so much. And I'm like, Man, I want my interplanetary vision. And so how did you find yours is kind of the question that I would ask him. And then the other thing is, is his ability to be consistent? It's just insane. I have a couple of businesses and I'm like, how do you run these multiboot This is insane. just doesn't make sense. So do things I really admire about that guy.
Krystal Proffitt:Well, we're putting that out into the universe. So Elon, if you're listening, like Seneca has some questions for you. Okay.
Seneca Hampton:Follow me on Twitter Elon.
Krystal Proffitt:Exactly. Waiting for that blue check ad day, right. And then my last question is, do you consider yourself a perfectionist?
Seneca Hampton:I used to. I used to, I used to very, very much um, And I switched to a utilitarian or things just have to, it's just utility. If it works, we'll make it pretty litter. That's it. Just to get the point across gets the point across. Great. Okay, let's figure out how to dress it up and make it cool later but just make it work and then we'll make it pretty. Oh, I can't if I felt like I used to be a perfectionist, it had to look and sound and be just, I can't does it work? Does it get the point across? Okay, cool. Great. Done. Phase one, then worry about phase two. Okay,
Krystal Proffitt:this is so good. And you're among many recovering perfectionist and this audience so you are you found your people if you were looking for them Seneca here we are. We are yours. You're more than welcome to be here and be imperfect. Because this has been such a fantastic conversation. Where can everybody learn more about Hampton Adams and what you're up to? And what's your favorite place to connect with people?
Seneca Hampton:Yes, so if you guys want to check out Hampton Adams, we are in Amazon. But if you'd like to make a purchase, really appreciate it. I would say go through our website Hampton adams.com. And in terms of getting in touch with me, I am managed to do way better about being on social media. I used to have a job as a social media specialist. And my job was to grow accounts after that job. I like washed my hands. I was like, this is just it's draining. But if you guys want to get a hold of me, you can get a hold of me on Instagram at Seneca Hampton probably be the best place.
Krystal Proffitt:Okay, awesome. Thank you so much for your time and all of your wisdom and the amazing business tips that you shared here today. They were so incredible. So thank you for coming on the show.
Seneca Hampton:Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. They were so nice Krystal, they were so nice to me. And it felt like like I don't know, I think the the the entrepreneurial like SWOT analysis guy inside of me was like, kid gloves, kid gloves. Like I just felt like I'm like, Are you guys really? In this way? Yeah. So after the show, they have a a therapist, you talk to you, they just everybody. And he said, I've been on the season. I've been on the show for 13 seasons, I've never seen them. I've never seen them let someone down in the way they let you down. That was the nicest I've ever seen them talk to anybody and not give them the deal. He's like, I've never seen it before. And I'm sitting there like still high on adrenaline and I'm like, okay, okay. All right. All right. Yeah. And then I finally get home and I play through. I play through all of the conversation and everything that happened. In hindsight, 2020 I'm like, okay, okay, cool lesson I learned I learned, I wouldn't say learned it was just like, I'm like, Okay. I see. There's certain spots in the conversation where I think I could have clarified things for them. Because it was like a two and a half hour conversation that they trimmed down. Yeah. But I was like, okay, cool. Yeah, I really, I really learned a lot. And I didn't get to tell you my story. I, I was late.
Krystal Proffitt:I was still recording, we can add this.
Seneca Hampton:So So I was I was supposed to be there like 12 o'clock in the middle of the day. And I'm supposed to be there 12 o'clock in the day. But I thought the email set to be there at like six o'clock that night. And so I'm actually in Nevada, and I'm in Reno and I'm working on a separate business. And so I actually own a logistics company. So we do last mile delivery delivering packages. And I'm setting all that up. And so I'm I'm flying back and forth, California and Nevada. I'm setting all this stuff up while having to talk to the producers and write my script and build my all this stuff. I'm like, I'm exhausted. I'm like, Oh my gosh, I can't wait for this all to be over. I'm so tired. And so I'm in Nevada. It's the last day I'm supposed to be in Nevada. I'm like, okay, cool. I don't come back here for another week. I can go home and rest and then Shark Tank is in like a day. So I'm like I get to sleep and then go. And so I get a call and Scott is like hey, where are you? I'm like What do you mean? Where am I am? I'm not I'm working? Why? He goes you're supposed to be here. Like, wait, what? He goes, Yeah, you're supposed to be here at 12. It's four. I'm like, Oh my goodness. Ah, I'm in Nevada. I mean it's an hour and a half flight and I'm like, I'm okay. I'll be there. If I can get there an hour and a half. It's an hour and a half drive to La I'll be there in three hours. He goes, Wow, okay, that's cutting it but okay, because you got to get tested for COVID. And so I'm at the airport. Now I'm like, I'm gonna say I'm anxious but I'm like, Oh, crap. Okay, we gotta go. And then literally as I hang up the phone they say sorry your guys's flight has been delayed and And then was like 30 minutes. I'm like, okay, okay, and pacing a little bit. 30 minutes turned into three hours. And so I'm sitting there like, Oh my goodness. So then the guy calls me back. He's like, where are you? I'm like, I'm on my way. And he goes, Okay, how long have you here? And I'm like, Ah, like, two hours. And he's like, alright, level with me, man. Where are you? At? I'm on a plane. I'm leaving Nevada. He goes, okay. Okay, what time can you get here? And I said, as fast as I can. And so I we fly home. I have to get an Uber. The Uber driver has no idea can't talk about it. So he's just galavanting home like taking his time and I'm in the backseat, like having a full like, oh my gosh, like, we gotta go. So I finally get home. I don't have any more props like the Wait, you guys saw all that stuff is not ready. And so I like have to run and grab it off, throw it in the car and get it all ready. And then I drove very responsibly. And within the speed limit. Wait, wait, yeah, legit li it's a legit that I was oh, you know speeding, it's a legit but. And so I'm like, fly into LA. I get there. And I get to this hotel and I'm like, this can't be the hotel. This is this can't this cannot be the hotel. It's it's, it's it's a word I'd use. I'm
Krystal Proffitt:scared that it's taking this long.
Seneca Hampton:Yeah. It's it's, it's it's raw. I'll use the word raw. It's raw. And I'm like, so I pull up and I'm like, this is where we're staying. Okay, whatever. Okay, I'm not one of those pinky in the air people. But I'm like, this is a little rough. So I walk in, I get my COVID test, like cool. Swaby for COVID. Great. I walk into my room. If this was Yelp, they would not get a good review. Let's leave it at that. And so the room was so bad that I slept. And I put my hoodie on and I pulled my string and slept in the middle of the mattress. Oh, it was that bad. I was just like, mind you. It's like one 2am And I have to be up at 5am for the next day, so I wake up. i It was so bad. I birdbath. It so I'm like birdbath thing.
Krystal Proffitt:Don't touch anything. Yeah,
Seneca Hampton:it was bad. I walked downstairs, and they're serving food. And I'm like, hesitant. I'm like, this is not it was just, it was rough. So then, you know, the arrived arrives, we're taken there. I'm waiting and waiting and waiting in our, you know, our trailer. And I'm like, Okay, are we going to go and hours go by, and I'm waiting. And I'm like, I could shower. And so I have I went to sleep at like one or two o'clock woke up at 5am. I had just flown all the way from Nevada. So when you guys see me on TV, I'm exhausted. And I had been doing this. This this, like, I can't talk about it all but like you're talking with, with with the Shark Tank people and you're building and doing all this stuff. And there's a lot of information they need. And you're verifying stuff and talking to lawyers and you do all it's a lot. And at the same time I'm sitting in this training. And the training was during the same week, 12 hours a day as I'm trying to hire for the new business. I'm starting with no employees. And I'm like, it was exhausting. So when I'm up there standing there, sharks. I'm so tired. I'm so tired. And so I get through this two and a half hours and when I come off, I'm like, oh my goodness, I'm so relieved. That's why I said I felt relieved because I was like, okay, I can finally rest I can finally rest. Finally rest. And I finished. And it was back to this new business that I have that I've been running for a little over a year now. 50 employees. It's insane. I think this business does like 2.5 million. It's it's it's tough. Dealing with is tough. And I'm like, Okay, I've been running ever since. So it hasn't been one of those things where it's like, hey, we you know Shark Tank was you know, my cool great so on the wall. Great, wonderful. stuff. I gotta do Yeah, so it's a funny story. Yeah, that was I was I was late arriving to Shark Tank. But in my in my defense, the email read really weird, really weird. And I was like reading it over as I'm on the phone with this guy. I'm like that there's no way no way that happened. That's not true. And I'm reading it. I'm like I can see how you can come up with that time. But you also said right here that I had to be there tomorrow at six. What the tomorrow at six. Why do I have to be there today at 12 Oh, the afternoon like it doesn't make sense. Yeah, but I made it I got through it. And surprisingly, it didn't cause any issue.
Krystal Proffitt:So we're gonna title this episode. I almost missed my shores.
Seneca Hampton:Yeah, yeah, I really did. I really and it wasn't like, purposeful or like, uh, you know, you're just, I'm one of those people where I'm like, I don't lose my keys. I'm like that guy, where I'm like, No, Cross my T's top. I know. Yeah. And when I saw that, I was like, okay, either you're exhausted from all of this stuff? Or they can't, right? I don't know. But it was.
Krystal Proffitt:It was unique. Or maybe it was a gift to not overthink the all the other things that you're doing in your pitch. You're like, I'm going to the universe's like, I'm gonna throw all this extra stuff at him that he's not going to have a chance to overthink. He just just go yeah, go like Yeah, but yeah,
Seneca Hampton:there was a moment when you're standing there before they open the doors. That's the highest level of of let like nerves. Mm hmm. It's quiet in the studio. And the doors open. And you walk in, it's quiet. So there's no dark dark down there. You're okay. And then you stand. And it's awkward. It's awkward. So awkward. It's great. You go. And yeah, I after I got through my pitch. It was downhill. Because that's the biggest piece of the whatever you film they can use. So if you botch stutter in that forget, ooh, oh, that's the narrative. Yeah. So I finished that. And I was like, okay, cool. Now ask me the business questions. I've been doing six years. It's easy. What's up? Yeah,
Krystal Proffitt:we're good. We're good. Yeah, well, and I'm gonna link to that clip too, because I have like, it's like the minute 45 second clip or whatever that we have. So we'll make sure and put that in the show notes too, for everybody. Thank you for the bonus story. That was fantastic. We I mean, we couldn't have we couldn't finish this. Without that.
Outro:I told you it was going to be such a great conversation. I hope you enjoyed that. I hope that you hit up Seneca and like ask him all the questions that you have. Because this was so much fun to talk to someone who is building businesses and never gives up. I think that that was the biggest takeaway from this interview. It wasn't his first idea. It wasn't his second idea. It was 20 something ideas into trying and failing and making mistakes and pivoting and continuing to go after something that you know you're capable of. And it was just such an incredible conversation. So I'm gonna link two ways that you can connect with Seneca go follow him on Instagram, go subscribe to his YouTube channel, they're all going to be in the show notes. So KrystalProffitt.com/episode380 to check him out. And if you are in athletics, like support him, go to Hampton Adams and check out all the cool things that they are doing I'm gonna link to their website as well and go check out I told you like the who knew that like athletic tape could be so sexy looking at the different pictures and the way their website is laid out. Like it's so simple and yet very powerful. And so I hope that you enjoyed today's interview with Seneca I had so much fun, but that's all I have for you today. So if this is your first time tuning in, make sure that you hit the subscribe or follow button wherever you are listening to today's episode and I would love it if you would take a screenshot tag me tag Seneca let us know what your number one takeaway was from today's episode or if there's something similar to this that you want to hear more about. Let me know I'm looking for ideas as we're going into a new year and I would love your feedback on other things that you want to hear on the profit podcast. But again, the show notes for today's episode, KrystalProffitt.com/episode380 for all the ways that you can connect to Seneca and that's all I have for you. So as always remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.