This is the full transcript for Episode #239 of the Wild Business Growth Podcast featuring Jamie Montz – Shoelace Specialist, Founder of The Original Stretchlace. You can listen to the interview and learn more here. Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.
Jamie Montz 0:00
I want to own a brand. And I want it to be small and I want it to be lightweight
Max Branstetter 0:18
Oh, hey, didn’t hear you there. Welcome back to the Wild Business Growth Podcast. This is your place to hear from a new entrepreneur every single Wednesday morning who’s turning Wild ideas into Wild growth. I’m your host, Max Branstetter, Founder and Podcast Producer of MaxPodcasting. And you can email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast. This is episode two to the third power plus one equals nine 239. Sorry for the all the calculations and today’s guest is Jamie Montz, Founder and Owner of The Original Stretchlace. The Original Stretchlace is what it sounds like – a stretchy, elastic shoelace that can turn any shoe into a slip-on super cool, super comfy. In this episode, we talk how Jamie got to the point and came up with such a product. How she’s tweaking it and differentiating it the toy store that she owned before that the awkward side of Shark Tank and everything from lots of toes and feet to weird voices. It is the Montz-ter Mash. Get it? Enjoyyyyyy the showwwwwwww!
Aaaaaalrightyyyyyy we’re here with Jamie Montz, Founder & Owner of The Original Stretchlace so we’re gonna get extra stretchy today and extra original Jamie, not only thank you for joining today and for all you do, but I heard from a little birdie that this is your first ever podcast. So thanks for for having it here on the Wild Business Growth Podcast.
Jamie Montz 2:05
Yes, thank you so much my first ever podcast I’m super. What’s the word? I’m nervous. I mean, this is it’s like Shark Tank. be nervous. A little nervous. I mean, like if we’re if I was having conversation with a friend, you know, so I’m gonna just try to pretend like it’s just a conversation with a friend.
Max Branstetter 2:24
Well, totally Well, I mean, this is this is a conversation with a friend by the end of this will be besties. And I think we go way back already, you know, a few minutes. But you know, the beautiful thing about podcasts, you know, at least those that aren’t alive is that you can edit them after. So it’s extra, you know, anything could be nerve wracking, but it’s extra casual and anything that you don’t want the end of the final version, or we don’t feel good about or want to take out or any slip ups. The listener who’s listening right now has no idea that it took place. So look at that brilliant genius right there.
Jamie Montz 2:58
Yeah, got it out. I like it.
Max Branstetter 3:02
So that’s why this interview was two minutes long, no just guy. But really, really excited to get into The Original Stretchlace story if I can ever pronounce it correctly. But before that there’s some aspects of your of your background before that, that I found pretty fascinating. First is Zeebi’s. So you Oh, created a store a few few years ago, what was
Jamie Montz 3:27
your homework Max? My gosh, that’s like,
Max Branstetter 3:31
I’m not school anymore. So I’m like I have a lot more bandwidth for homework now.
Jamie Montz 3:36
You went deep. That’s amazing. Well, yeah. So Zeebi’s is my husband and I used to live in the Seattle area. And before we had children, I’ve always had this like entrepreneurial spirit. I grew up with a father who I’ll call a renaissance man, he was definitely into a lot of different things. And so I think that was kind of born within me as well. When my husband and I lived in Seattle, we were without children. And I thought let’s just start this specialty retail, educational, what we’ll call toy store in the Seattle area, it was actually in the outskirts of Seattle outskirts of Seattle. And so we started this educational walk, I’ll call it well, we’ll call it educational store. But we really it was a toy store. And it was a community toy store. And we didn’t have kids. I don’t know what I was thinking. But the main reason why we wanted to start the brick and mortar was because we wanted to start selling on Amazon early on. And this was this was back in the early 2000s when Amazon had just opened up their third party selling and being in the Seattle area where Amazon was headquartered and my husband being in technology and myself being an E commerce. We were able to be one of the first third party sellers on Amazon for special specialty educational, not toys, they were some of them more toys, but for for children. And so it was like a lot of high end wood, German product that We were selling online as well as toys and things that you would not see in your local Target, basically. So we started that company and ended up actually selling it that without that was quite the ride CVS, but I actually ran the store. Like physically I was in the store, and it was during fourth quarter holiday season when I was shipping orders by myself, we had employees, but you know, when you’re, when you’re an entrepreneur, you’re holding the majority of the work, or you’re doing the majority of the work, and you have people who are employed, but there, it’s no substitute for the owner. And so we had employees, but it was still a tremendous amount of work during the fourth quarter. And then I found out I got pregnant and then the rest is history. I decided I we decided we wanted to sell the company. And we ended up selling after I think it was I owned it for five years. But yeah, so Zeebi’s That’s a that’s definitely a blast for the past. And there’s this really weird, strange connection with Shark Tank. If you want me to go into that. I don’t know if you want me to keep talking because I will but or if I need a break and a breath of air.
Max Branstetter 6:07
No, no, no, you can talk as long as you want. I often take an approach, I kind of sit in the backseat. And listen, I’ll jump in every now and then. But I never want to cut you off unless I have like a terribly corny joke to throw in there. So but but this is great. But before we get to the Shark Tank time owning a Toy Story, that’s like a pretty cool thing to do on your resume or life for anybody in business. I mean, Toys Are Fun, everybody loves him. educational toys, how did you get into that space of kind of like a mix of toys and education, my background
Jamie Montz 6:38
at the time. And it still is to this day has always been an ecommerce just buying and selling things online. And I at the time was growing, helping brands grow online. And when you see and are exposed to all these different types of brands, you kind of figure out what you want your your niche to be. And for me, I knew that I couldn’t compete with Target and I didn’t want to carry the exact same things that they sold. And so I went for the specialty market. And so these are things like play mobiel we carried Well, we had to carry Lego because Lego is just huge everywhere. But we carried some of the things that maybe you wouldn’t see at you know, your local mass retailer. Gosh, these brands like HABA is also another German high end toy. Usually like Montessori schools, we use these types of products. And so I really wanted to differentiate myself from what was available in mass market. I just thought it was a really fun space, you know, just to the community that we opened the brick and mortar store in was a brand new community. And I learned so much from the experience like I would never open a specialty educational toy store and a brand new community. But it was it was a community that was highly like family focused. And so we would have, you know, all the neighbors like walk in and they knew my name. I knew their names. It was it was it was kind of like Pleasantville a little bit. Everybody kind of knew each other. It was cool.
Max Branstetter 8:06
I was gonna say it’s like the show. Cheers. Everybody knows your name?
Jamie Montz 8:09
Totally. Yes, I put on my little I used to have an apron that I’d wear, you know, total, like Oh, there she is the shopkeeper that’s like running her little toy store. But yeah, that’s why I got into it is because I didn’t I really did not want to compete with the mass market. And I wanted to do something a little bit more higher end and kind of specialty. And I also knew that that would also do well online, just knowing kind of where the space was going. Like at the time I was working at a company before I sculpt in the stores. Toy store. I was working at a company called drugstore.com. And we were growing brands at that time like method. I don’t know if you know of method they sell in Yeah.
Max Branstetter 8:45
Yeah. They have very, like cool packaging. Yes. Very cool package. And I know they’re like super eco friendly and all that. Yeah, yes. Yeah. So
Jamie Montz 8:53
at the time, like they just basically were launching with like a handsoap. And it was this really cool, like, teardrop looking bottle. And they didn’t they didn’t have with us before. Yes, right. We all have. Anyways, we helped launch these kinds of brands where you wouldn’t really necessarily see them. You know, like the dial pump soaps at Target. It was like method. So method started out being more specialty, but then they went into mass just because that’s where everybody’s at is in mass retail. But we were launching brands like Method and Seventh Generation. And Mrs. Meyer’s was a part of that at the time. And other it was I was in
Max Branstetter 9:31
these are all these brands are all massive now. Yes, right. That
Jamie Montz 9:35
was like 20. Well, it was early 2019 99 to 2002 basically. So they’re huge now right? And it’s so cool to see these founding stories of these people that have like started with one idea and just percolated from there but right.
Max Branstetter 9:51
You’re working with eCommerce and then actually physical like a brick and mortar store of your own at a crazy time for like the explosion of the Internet explosion of Amazon and you know, now it’s like you can’t like blink or spin a millisecond without seeing something Amazon or thinking about Amazon. But right. But you also you alluded with zbs that actually ties into your Shark Tank story. So what what’s the crossover there?
Jamie Montz 10:17
Well, so like I told you, it was like the neighborhood, you know, toy store that all the kids would come to come get a piece of candy or like, at times, we had Pokemon cards, and they would just like little kids, you know, 5678 years old walk in, and they just wanted to spend their own money that they’d earned and whatnot. There are some kids that really do stick out of my mind, like their names and their faces. So I like I still envision these children as children, but now they’re like grown adults, you know, they’re 20. They’re, well, whatever. They’re 20 something years. 28 probably years old by now, right? When we learned that we were going to air when we learned that we were going to air on Shark Tank, and then the actual air airing happened. My aunt, she called me and she said, Do you remember a little girl that used to come into your toy store? And she said the name? And I said, Yeah, it sounds familiar. Yes, there are there were so many kids that would come in, you know, all the time. And because because my aunt’s a flight attendant, she does international flights with Delta. Anyhow, she flies with a woman who used to live in my neighborhood and still call me I guess, and she had a daughter that was around that age, 678 years old. And this daughter now works for Robert Herjavec. So when it aired, she said, Oh my gosh, I used to go to that toy store. I know her she was so nice. And I just thought that was so strange, because Robert was the one that made the deal with us. So I was like, that’s a really small world. Because Roberts companies in Canada, I still haven’t made the connection. I don’t know where this girl woman is at now. I need to get that clarification from my aunt. But she works for Roberts company and used to come into my toy store 20 years ago. Is that not the strangest thing?
Max Branstetter 11:52
That is so cool. That’s so you were just meant to be on Shark Tank? That’s perfect.
Jamie Montz 11:58
I guess so.
Max Branstetter 12:02
So let’s stretch our way to The Original Stretchlace. Which of course is the company that you pitched on Shark Tank. Really, really cool company. For anybody who’s not familiar. Obviously, you can tell by the name that you know, it’s laces, there’s shoe laces. There’s a stretchy aspect to it. But I think in a nutshell, the coolest part is that you can you can take any shoe like any type of shoe and turn it into a slip on which of course is more comfortable. There’s lots of benefits to it. But how did you even consider getting into coming up with an idea in the shoe lace space, which rolls off the tongue in the first place? Oh, god that rhymes again. Oh, this is terrible.
Jamie Montz 12:45
Oh my gosh, okay, well, so knowing my story with my background with Zeebi’s and eCommerce and and having that store that kind of it’s a good great segue segue because the reason why I sold Zeebi’s is because I should never have opened a brick and mortar store. Like Me personally, I know some people who love having their brick and mortar stores, it’s great. It’s fun. Maybe they really resonate with the product. For me, I didn’t have children at the time. While I love the product. It just wasn’t like a passion project for me anymore. What was really exciting to me was the concept of selling online. When I sold that business, I knew I wanted to come back to Amazon in some kind of way. And I always thought to myself, I said, I’m gonna I want to own a brand. And I want it to be small. And I want it to be lightweight. And this isn’t the story that I actually told on Shark Tank, which, in hindsight, I really wish I would have told the story of Shark Tank because it explains why I launched these laces. One of the questions that Daniel Lubetzky asked me that I’ll never forget that was so embarrassing. I don’t even know if he if they aired it, actually. But he said you have this, you know, 20 year background in eCommerce and he like lifts the lace up. And he’s like, and this is what you come up with. You know, and it was like one of those moments where I was like, he’s right, like, Why did I but really, the story is because, like, you know, I don’t have a passion for shoelaces, like who does, it’s just like one of those things you have to use. But I knew that I wanted to go back to Amazon someday. And like I said, it was those metrics that I wanted to meet which was small, lightweight on my own brand. And we can ship this thing or in you know, like like a commodity product or whatever that we can that people need. And so just one day I was tying my kids shoes I have three boys. And at the time they were all in different phases of shoe tying and my oldest was still learning my second was still learning my third was definitely not anywhere near tying his shoes, but he wanted tie shoes like his brothers because tying shoes is like a rite of passage for kids. You remember the moment when you learn how to tie like
Max Branstetter 14:43
a bunny ear the bunny ears or the SpongeBob was loop de loop and pull. Yeah, exactly.
Jamie Montz 14:52
Yeah, so my my kids were all learning and I have eczema on my hands. It’s been a chronic thing. I always have these cuts on my hands and as time My kids shoes and the shoes were wet. And it wasn’t rainy, you know, during that time period, and I thought, why are they wet? And all I could think of was? Are they walking through the schools bathroom and like dragging it through pee like that’s, you know, I was thinking I have all these cuts on my hands and I’m like getting pee on me. As I said, they’re squirt, this is so gross. Like, why, you know, can you wear these shoes with these already built in, like commerce have these shoes with kind of elastic laces with that you just pulled on? And but they were like, no, we want to look like everybody else, we want to tie shoes, right? So then I was like, well, there has to be something. And I went online, and I looked and there’s a bunch of elastic laces, but they all have like clips and clasps, and all these other doodads that you have to deal with. And I thought my kids are going to destroy those, like, they’re going to run in the playground, and that clips gonna be broken like two seconds, you know. So that’s how I came up with laces, I just thought they have to just make this super simple, just stretch lace that just goes in your shoe like regular and it makes everything into a slip on. And it was that’s how it happened. And then it was like, You know what it was natural things. It met all the requirements for selling on Amazon, again, which was a small, lightweight commodity item. And that’s how it started.
Max Branstetter 16:10
So all that like in the back of your mind is kind of eCommerce is that consistent thing through all of that. So even with the physical product, you’re thinking, like what works there. So it’s really brilliant, I mean, allows you to scale and like quick transition to selling stuff online. But as far as these actual laces, so what went into developing the actual the original stretch lace,
Jamie Montz 16:31
the original strategy. Yeah, so in my background with eCommerce, like I’ve kind of said, I’ve helped brands launch online, but I’ve also developed brands for companies that I’ve worked for. And so I dealt with sourcing and the pitfalls of international sourcing and manufacturing. So like the perfect example is, you know, you you kind of take advantage of like when you go to a retail, you buy a shirt, and the seams are all straight and looks perfect, and you wash it. And all of a sudden, it’s like the seams are crooked, and you’ve got the seam like in the middle of your of your body versus it being on the sides of your body. Like that’s the difference between getting a manufacturer that knows what they’re doing and getting one that doesn’t so little little like intricate details of like how to find the right manufacturer makes sure you’re getting the right samples, how to know what’s going to how to know the products actually going to perform like you expect it to because there’s so many, you know, people overseas who will sell you a product and it’ll be at a good price. But then you like for example, you wash it where whatever, and then all of a sudden it like disintegrates. Or like I said the seams are off or whatever it may be little little tiny details that you don’t notice. And so, brands that have done this, well have, you know, they have all those supply chain, like they have that all baked and it’s done. And so I had the the opportunity to kind of learn all these things about manufacturing, and I got really lucky. And luckily, shoelaces are not that complicated of a product. But when I was looking for sources overseas, obviously China’s the first place everybody goes, and I was testing the product there. And honestly, it’s like a term elasticity, the stretchability of the product was like not good. So you’d stretch it and it would only like stretch to a certain point. And then it feel kind of like hard and stiff and almost kind of like just cheap. It just felt like not, you know, very, it didn’t feel like a really nice product to me. And that was after like months and months of trying to source the right product that would offer the correct amount of stretch. Because the last thing you want to do is put a product into your shoe. And it’s stretchy. But it only stretches to a certain point because those pressure points are going to hurt your foot, right, you’re going to put it on and it’s just going to be tight. It’s going to be like a tight lace. That’s uncomfortable. And I and people have all kinds of foot issues I’ve learned now in selling laces for Geez, how long has it been seven, eight. And so it was really important for me to find a really good quality product, even if it was going to cost a little bit more. And so I actually went I’m Korean, I went and sourced this product in Korea. And so I just found this, I went through, you know, multiple iterations of samples and products with elastic that was already being created because elastic is not new. But had this developed in my own unique colors and lengths and just launched on the market as such, because like anything you’ll find like base product, which is a lot of what people do today. They go to China, they source something, it comes in X, Y and Z length and X, Y and Z color. And that’s for a reason because it’s like that’s what sells right at the 8020 rule. But that’s always that necessarily might not be the right product that might not be the right length for what you want to use it for. So with our product, I decided that I wanted to really be able to fit laces on shoes that people were wearing that were trendy. So Nike blazers, Air Jordans, any of the converse high tops, and a lot of the links that were available for elastic shoe laces Were not only really cheap, like I said, the stretchability elasticity wasn’t there. But the links weren’t there. So you couldn’t, you couldn’t use these types of laces in those types of shoes. So that’s really kind of where I found my, my niche was trying to cater to people who are wearing shoes that are kind of notoriously hard to put on, and then making them in lengths and colors that they would want and really building the our differential on that versus like, well, it’s just an elastic shoe lace, but it’s like, like anything. If you look a little bit further, if you look a little bit deeper, the the founder will tell you the story of why their product is so awesome, right? So I just listened to like the bombas guys, and I was like, Oh, they’re just socks, and I love their socks. But if you really listen to the founder story, it’s like, oh, they had all these like intricate details. And same with my product as well. It’s like, it’s this last six shoelace. But really, there was so much detail and thought behind, like what was really going to work for the product and for the customer. And who am I trying to make these for?
Max Branstetter 20:58
Shout out the bombas guys, my wife, Dana, like as a huge fan of their socks. So anytime now. But yeah, so good. But yeah, so many insights you can learn and in your space, I think shoes are such a tricky space to be in. Because you mentioned that, you know, there’s ones that are trendy, and like, you know, Air Jordans Air Force One, like there’s so there’s so many types of shoes or sneakers, whatever you prefer to call them, that will always be popular. But there’s also like, new shoes, new styles launching, like every single day and shoes or something. I personally am not like a huge sneaker head, like I don’t care that much. But I there’s a lot of people out there that care deeply about their shoes. And the laces are a big part of that. So it’s a tricky space to be in. How do you make sure that you’re, you know, creating this product and creating, you know, adding skews to your mix, that cater to you know, more and more people and actually are comfortable for people to wear not like those pain points that you mentioned?
Jamie Montz 22:01
Yeah. Well, it’s hard it is. It’s a tricky process. I mean, we listen, we get so many customer emails, you know, inquiring about certain colors, lengths, how wide they are. And so we really try to temper that with what we think is going to actually trend. You know, what Nike is creating right now? You know, it is it is difficult. And that’s only one segment for us. So I talk about these, you know, the sneaker heads that where are these? My I have kids who are turning into sneaker heads and they definitely like for instance, my oldest he’s like, I’m not going to switch out your my laces with yours. Like I have to keep the originals. Like there’s no way I’m gonna switch. So,
Max Branstetter 22:46
but you have the original in your name, though. So
Jamie Montz 22:49
I know. I mean, he’s the same kid that puts like, the crease protectors and issues, you know, like, it’s like, okay, that’s serious. It’s, it’s knowing who my customer is. And I definitely know it’s not that intense. He’s not my customer. It’s not his intense sneakerhead ways. It’s like a customer who, like Nike Blazers are the perfect shoe. They’re like this high top that’s notoriously hard to get into that I don’t know what it is they have like a small opening for your foot and it’s a high top and then not only that near the ankle area like pinches even more tightly. And I swear as you own them longer and longer, it’s harder and harder to put these shoes on. It’s like you have to like literally physical force or make them super loose. And then, you know, make them super loose. And then you have these loose laces that you’re always having to cinch up and all this stuff. But these these aren’t the sneaker heads, the people who are wearing the Blazers aren’t the sneaker heads. I mean, they are sneaker heads, they like to look cool, but it’s not like it’s not like my son who’s wearing crease protectors in his shoes, sometimes with some of the shoes. Yeah,
Max Branstetter 23:46
I don’t even know crease protectors existed until you said,
Jamie Montz 23:49
right? I know. That’s like the crazy sneaker heads must be
Max Branstetter 23:53
wild creases everywhere. That makes sense.
Jamie Montz 23:55
So do I. But yeah, so I think that, you know, it’s knowing who the customer base is, and really trying to cater to what types of shoes they’re wearing. So like for me, for example, like I said, my son is He’s way out of my customer base, but like somebody who wears a blazer, who still likes cool shoes, but once comfort two would be a perfect person for this product. And so, you know, we make products that hopefully fit blazers, we do a lot of testing, like we take the laces out of the Blazers and we measure them, we see what works and then we see okay, well what do people want and it is tricky too, because some people have high end steps. So they need bigger laces or they have wide feet so they need not bigger, longer laces. So or they have wide feet and they need longer laces. But there is a variance that I believe the shoe industry uses in terms of okay, this is the length of lace we’re going to make for this kind of issue. I think and I think it varies by manufacturer because I’ve never seen consistency that says oh, it’s always gonna be a you know, 65 inch shoelace. It’s like varies by the manufacturer.
Max Branstetter 24:54
Oh, there’s so much there’s so much variability like I’m someone who might Feet are like, like, we’re getting very detailed here. But it’s so interesting, you know how like certain people have like, either the big toe is longer or like their second toe is longer. In my case, my second toe is like, extremely, not extreme. But it’s, it’s pretty long. It’s infamous. So like, just myself knowing from knowing for myself, like, my feet are like so uniquely shaped because that second toe is like so long. And then like the base of the foot is like, it’s not like huge, it’s not small, but it’s like, you know, the Tokyo because of the good portion of that the point point of this is that there is salt, like everybody’s feet are different. And so everybody’s shoes or shoes are different. And so I can only imagine the decisions you have to make in terms of sizing for the laces, and yeah, everything there.
Jamie Montz 25:44
Absolutely it I was gonna tell you that so that long middle toe, there’s a name for it. It’s like a specific
Max Branstetter 25:50
thing, so called The Max. Just
Jamie Montz 25:54
know, it’s like a I can’t remember what it’s called. But this is so funny, because literally, we were on vacation recently. And with our family members, my husband has that toe. And so it is a sister and her husband, their newlyweds told us a story that when he met my sister in law for the first time he saw her toes out, they were out and about, you know, like, and he noticed just hanging out there. It was like flip flops or something. But she had this extra long second toe. And I think for him, it was like, I guess maybe a mating call because he’s like, supposedly people with the longer second toe it like it means you’re really smart. Like brilliant.
Max Branstetter 26:31
Well, that explains my behalf. Yeah.
Jamie Montz 26:34
Yeah, so there you go. Sorry. Weird tangent.
Max Branstetter 26:38
Yeah, well, that’s totally my fault. But I appreciate I love like little quirks like that. But like, it also makes me think about how, you know, now not only is it tricky being in the shoe space in general, but like, you’re in the accessory space, you know, it’s like people often when if they’re looking for shoes, they’ll buy shoes first. And then obviously, if they want to, you know, spruce it up with laces, then they’ll buy the laces. So you’re like, in a space that’s an accessory to an already, you know, common product with shoes. Like how does that shape your marketing and positioning the product? Just knowing that you’re an accessory accessory in this space?
Jamie Montz 27:10
Well, that’s a good question. I mean, it’s always going to be an accessory product, I don’t feel as if we’re never going to be the shoe, we’re always going to be the second player always.
Max Branstetter 27:21
And that’s and I’m not saying it in a negative light. Like, it’s, it’s the reality of it. People love leases, but like, shoes is what people buy first. So it’s Yeah, it makes sense.
Jamie Montz 27:30
Totally well, and I think with any product, that positioning, it’s dependent on what the product serve. So because it is an accessory product in Okay, so I’ll use another example. Because I’m trying to tie this together.
Max Branstetter 27:41
Nice, no pun intended, they’re nice.
Jamie Montz 27:45
Try a diet together. When when we are let’s say we’re advertising currently, I’m, I’m using a totally different strategy with advertising, I’m not doing a lot of advertising. But when we were advertising, one of the biggest hurdles was average order value. So like the cost of my product is anywhere from 11 to $15. So let’s say on average, it’s 12 to $13, the AOV is really low for doing any kind of internet marketing, you want at least a product, they say $25. But I think it’s more like $35 threshold. And so you know, you have to get creative with like bundling and, and all this other stuff. When when I think about positioning my product to the consumer, I’m not in it for the short term, really, I’m trying to, I’m trying to establish a relationship to the customer. And the metric that a lot of people talk about is LTV, lifetime value to the customer. So when I’m acquiring a customer, I’m not looking to acquire a customer who’s just one and done, I’m really looking for the customer’s lifetime, truly. So let’s say a mom purchases it, and they purchase it for their eight, their elderly, father, mother and also their children, that that child is so used to using these elastic laces, and I’ve seen it with my own kids, where they’re like, I don’t want to tie my shoes anymore. And I want to put them on fast I want to get out the door. And so even with my own kids who use these things every day, like they have tie laces and they’re like, I don’t want to use these tiles anymore. So I’m thinking like generational right. So to go back to your story of how to not be the main player in the game is I kind of think of that about it in that way. I think about it from a standpoint of I’m just trying to get into the customer’s everyday life and hopefully become part of their routine. Just like somebody puts milk in their sugar or sorry, a milk in their coffee every day or whatever it may be like that’s what I really see myself as so I it’s a hard question to answer honestly, I don’t you and we even when we were doing advertising, I really do look at this product, obviously as an accessory product and and that’s how we’re always going to look at it. So we we always jump on the bandwagon of like what’s trending let’s get and then hopefully it kind of takes off that way. But every different segment that we kind of cater to because The sneaker heads aren’t the only people that we cater to. I mean, we have people who legitimately need this product because they have feet issues, they are physically impaired for one reason or another or another. It’s kind of like looking at each different customer segment and trying to figure out basically how we can integrate our product into each other, you know, daily rituals. I don’t look at it as a main player. And I know that’s how it’s always going to be. But can it be something that’s a part of everybody’s ritual? Daily? Absolutely. And I think it’s just finding that kind of niche of how do we get in? How do we get into the everyday ritual?
Max Branstetter 30:37
Boy, do I have a Thursday ritual for you that will make your Thursdays better. it’s called the Podcasting to the Max newsletter, and you can sign up at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter. It is a mix of entrepreneurial insights, podcasting insights, I usually say tips for this, I’m switching it to insights, as well as dad jokes/corny jokes/impressive puns and alliteration, as well, you can sign up at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter and get it every Thursday. Now, let’s get to one of my better segues and double entendres in recent memory in more of the podcast interview as well. So let’s get to your everyday life. And let’s get to it a different segment, as you mentioned, and this is inspiration and creativity. So outside of work, what is your favorite way to if you can ever find time to unwind or unplug or refresh?
Jamie Montz 31:38
Oh, geez, I think this phase of life is just I have three kids, I have a husband, I have a job. I mean, it’s just one of those phases of life where it’s just super busy. And I think a lot of parents will agree like it’s the phase that just whizzes by, and I’m in that phase right now. So when people ask the question, like, what do you do for fun? It’s like, not a lot. No, but honestly, for fun, I do like to do things that are related to my business. And I love to read like self help books. You know, I love to listen to podcasts about businesses and how people grew them. For since the beginning of time, like I just like, I don’t know, if you remember, there was a TV show called The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch back in the early 2000s. Like, I would obsessively watch TV, that show and just watch all these entrepreneurs stories. I don’t know. That’s what inspires me what it’s what makes me feel good. It gives me ideas about my business. So it’s really pathetic. And people will hear this and be like, You’re so sad. Like, that’s what you like. But my husband I talk about this all the time, because he is a man of many. He’s kind of like my dad. He’s a renaissance man. He My husband loves to do many things like he took up playing the guitar, he does Duolingo and trying to learn, like freshen up of Spanish. And he’s a man of many different interests. And he likes to like he loves to rock climb, like I can name a million thing, my husband, but then when it comes to me, I’m so boring in that sense, because when I list off, like what I really like to do, it’s all really related to my business. And I don’t know if that’s because because all my free time is like usually related to my business or if that’s because that’s really what genuinely interests me. And I’ve asked myself this question, and I think it comes down to it really honestly interests me. So that’s my first answer. But yeah, on the side, I also like to watch horrible reality television, so I
Max Branstetter 33:27
figured there might be a curveball coming in there after
Jamie Montz 33:31
I’ve been watching Survivor since it started.
Max Branstetter 33:34
Oh, my brother shout out to Andrew, my brother and cousin Sam and Josh net at the same way, like every year, like I’m someone who I like I lost interest many many, many years ago, like I watched, you know, I don’t know, seasons two through five or something. And then I just like, I guess, grew out of it, which now I’m not gonna say that because that makes sense. Like you guys didn’t grow. I found I found interest in other things. But I’m blown away by people that watch it every single year. So you are you’re Surviving Survivor.
Jamie Montz 34:02
I am a Survivor. I just love Jeff Probst. I feel like he’s my friend, you know? Oh, he’s
Max Branstetter 34:07
awesome. Yeah. Yeah, he’s
Jamie Montz 34:09
an awesome host. And I just love all the stories and I know it’s TV, but it’s just fun to watch. But I also love like, really bad shows like love Island. Have you heard of Love Island?
Max Branstetter 34:19
I’ve heard of it. I’ve never watched it. But it sounds. It’s even though it’s a perfect name of a show that would go super viral and have tons of people interested in it?
Jamie Montz 34:30
Well, I’m talking these types of things like when I really just want to shut my brain off and not think about anything. That’s what I do. But I really don’t have a lot of time for those. You know, I have a lot of time for television. But if I’m going to answer like, I guess I do that. I mean, I’m super into organizing. Like I would organize over watching reality television, like I love compartmentalizing things, finding new ways to use my drawer and like by these little, you know, compartment organizers to organize I’m really into that. Right now I’m doing my sock drawer, we just moved to so that also helps. But I’ve always loved to like, I love to make things efficient. Let’s just say that efficiency is my thing.
Max Branstetter 35:09
That’s pretty inefficient. No, that’s a that’s a great talent to have, we’ll give you credit for weird talent on that one. But I’m same sort of way. Like I love keeping things organized and, and planning things out. And so like that goes, that goes a long way. But back to like your, your initial answer to this, like there’s no shame in being super passionate about about your business. And like wanting to learn from other entrepreneurs, I would actually say that this is the perfect podcast for your first podcast ever behind because it’s like literally interview entrepreneurs like you all the time. And it’s like, that’s what fascinates me as well. It’s so inspiring to hear from people like yourself and see like, what worked for them, what didn’t work for them, and what can you apply back to your business? So I totally understand your passions in that area, as well as like the need to, you know, watch, like a random TV show every now and then. And just like, oh, this is terrible, but this is good.
Jamie Montz 36:02
Yeah. That’s right. Yeah, I know. It’s It is horrible. I would love to say like, I read books and things like that. But mostly I listened to like Audible if I read a book, but yeah, I mean, honestly, like I said, the phase of my life. I don’t have a lot of free time. I really don’t. It’s a difficult question to ask or answer.
Max Branstetter 36:21
I’m just throwing all the hard balls at you. Not this off.
Jamie Montz 36:23
No kidding.
Max Branstetter 36:27
Let’s wrap up with some Rapid-Fire Q&A. You ready for it?
Jamie Montz 36:30
Ready?
Max Branstetter 36:32
All right, let’s get Wild. Before we officially hit record you are alluding to because we were talking about awkward things just because I’m inherently awkward. We’ve had previous guests mentioned this before, but nobody really has gone in depth on it. But the Shark Tank stare-down like when you first get out there, how was that experience for you? Like what happens when you get out there and you’re literally just staring at each other?
Jamie Montz 36:56
Oh, gosh, the whole thing is so surreal, even still, to this day. When I think about like when we were standing in front of those doors behind the doors before they swing them open and you walk down the hallway. I’m like was I really there, you know, it’s just so surreal. And I think all the other shark take, I’m sure you’ve interviewed a ton of them. I know you just did Desiree, but it’s so surreal. So you walk down the hallway. And my husband, I were holding hands, I do remember that. And because they have to get the cameras all straight, they tell you to do the staredown with the sharks and smile as best you know, like just look happy, basically. So you you hit your mark, there’s like a little spot in the floor that you have to stand on. And you hit your mark. And they’re like, don’t look at the floor. But you can’t help to look at the floor because you need to see where you need to stand. Right. So that’s like to stare at the floor as you’re walking down, like look up. But you want to make sure you hit the spot you’re supposed to be standing in. So that’s all super awkward. And especially for people who aren’t trained in media, media or like, know anything about television, which that’s me. And then you have to look up and just pleasantly smile at everybody and make sure you’re just like looking around the room. And it’s like the most awkward thing. And you know when we filmed it was during COVID. And so I don’t know about you, but during COVID Like we didn’t see anyone but like our five family members all the time, and maybe some neighborhoods, you know over the fence and stuff like that, but we didn’t you hardly saw anybody and if you did, it was like a quiz. It was behind the mask and it was like a quick eyeball look and it was like you had the mask on. So you’re kind of like shielded. It was the first time where we had to be in front of a like in front of the sharks just without a mask on just staring them down. So it just felt extra awkward. You know, coming out of COVID and coming through COVID
Max Branstetter 38:39
awkward with the sharks that could be your your memoir, your Oh,
Jamie Montz 38:43
yes, because I’m super awkward all the time too awkward with the sharks.
Max Branstetter 38:47
I’m all for awkward. What’s the number one reason to visit Boise, Idaho?
Jamie Montz 38:54
the number one reason now that I’ve moved to Arizona, the accessibility to the outdoors is unreal in Boise. So if you’re an outdoorsy person, and you like to do all the things like skiing, mountain biking, boating, all that can be within reach and 20 minutes, literally, it’s crazy. And I did not realize like how good we had at recreationally speaking until we moved to Arizona and then I’m like whoa, it’s a little bit more difficult to do things here but but Boise is a really, I was supposed to you know all the locals in Boise are like, Please don’t tell people to move here. But it is like a little gem of a place. Truth be told.
Max Branstetter 39:31
Yeah, it’s fascinating that you say that because I think Arizona is known for just like how beautiful the outdoors are and very unique and cool setup and everything. But it does make sense like, Boise is going to be so much easier to get around. I mean, Phoenix is just Matt You know, what is it top four top five biggest city? Yeah, so it’s definitely different.
Jamie Montz 39:49
So different. Yep. And we’ve also lived in the Seattle area too. So we have been in big cities before but Phoenix is different. There’s definitely a vibe here. There’s it’s a super are entrepreneurial like people are very passionate here I find I’m loving Phoenix but man, Boise’s hard to be
Max Branstetter 40:08
what is a weird talent or party trick you have in addition to, you know, making things super organized and efficient. What’s something that you just have a knack for?
Jamie Montz 40:18
Well, I can whistle while smiling is that some would be considered a party trick.
Max Branstetter 40:23
Totally. Can you do it now? I mean, won’t be able to see you smile, but we can hear the whistle. Yeah. Like, give us give us like two or three seconds.
Jamie Montz 40:31
Okay. Sounds good.
Max Branstetter 40:36
You weren’t smiling. No, I’m just kidding. That’s perfect. Yes.
Jamie Montz 40:40
I guess that’s a legit whistle. Yeah, right. Yeah. It’s whistling through my teeth. And I learned it.
Max Branstetter 40:46
It’s like a ventriloquism for Ventrilo with whistling ventriloquist behind
Jamie Montz 40:52
it. Yeah, yeah, I make also and I also make this other weird noise through my mouth. I don’t know if do you want me to make the noise?
Max Branstetter 40:58
I do. You shouldn’t have brought that up. Yes. Okay.
Jamie Montz 41:01
All right. Here it goes. Talking about awkward boys. I was here it very well. I
Max Branstetter 41:09
don’t know what that was. But yes, I, I don’t know if I would have drained her nightmares about that. But that’s great. That’s awesome. What do you call that?
Jamie Montz 41:19
I don’t even know what that’s called. I don’t know. But yeah, I do that to my kids at night when they’re not behaving scare them a little bit. I haven’t done that in a long time, actually. But like,
Max Branstetter 41:29
I appreciate it. This is the magic of Wild Business Growth, getting people to do their weird voices. Last one, what is the most unique shoe or boot or like type of shoe that you’ve seen somebody equipping with the original stretch lace.
Jamie Montz 41:45
Um, well, actually, I saw somebody posted on Instagram. There’s like a whole barefoot movement, right? It’s been around for a while. And the shoes are so interesting looking the shoe is meant to and I can’t remember what they’re called, they have a name, but they’re very wide. And they look almost like duck feet. Kind of like if you imagine the shape of a duck foot and then like shape it to a sneaker. That’s what this sneaker looked like it was very wide. And like unusual looking. They were using our stretch laces because the whole concept is like, let your feet like be natural in their natural state, you know, because your shoes, compress your feet and all this other stuff. So it’s just like kind of like let them be like naked, basically. And stretch laces also is a great accompaniment to that. Because it lets your feet kind of move where they need to it’s not constricting. So that’s something that I saw that I thought was pretty interesting.
Max Branstetter 42:40
Yeah, that’s perfect. So it’s very versatile. These laces, that’s awesome. It’s a whole new category for you or subcategory.
Jamie Montz 42:47
Absolutely the Barefoot people,
Max Branstetter 42:49
Jamie. I’m not kidding. Like, I would never guess this is your first podcast interview. You’re awesome pro already knocked out of the park. I really, really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story and sharing that voice that will haunt me later. But thank you so much for coming on. Where’s the best place for people to try out the original stretch lace as well as to connect with you online anywhere?
Jamie Montz 43:13
Yeah, well, they can go to our website, Stretchlaces.com or TheOriginalStretchlace.com. And if they want to reach me by email, email address is . And I so appreciate you Max, like oh, I just want to say thank you for letting this be my first podcast experience. It was very nice and supportive feeling and awkward, which I liked as well. So thank you,
Max Branstetter 43:39
my pleasure, my pleasure, supportive and awkward. That’s yeah. But it’s an honor to be your first podcast. It was absolute blast and big fan of you and the business. So really just thankful that that you spent it here with us. Last thing, Final Thoughts that could be a quote, a line, another voice. No, you don’t have to do that unless you want, whatever you want. Just some kind of words of wisdom to send us home here.
Jamie Montz 44:03
I think a lot of entrepreneurs face a lot of adversity. And every entrepreneur is going to experience the ups and downs. And during the down times, it’s really easy to be like I want to I want I’m done like this is but you always know that upside is going to happen. And I have no famous quotes. I’m horrible at memorizing movie lines and quotes. But that is the resounding kind of like message that’s always in my mind is whenever things are proving to be difficult. There’s always going to be a silver lining and there’s always going to be an upward movement to the business and you know, you’re the sole person that’s going to make it happen and you can do it honestly you can do it. So that’s my last words of advice. Just keep going.
Max Branstetter 44:46
going and going and going and going. Thank you, Jamie so much for coming on the podcast making your podcast debut – still can’t get over it. And thank you, Wild Listeners for tuning in to another episode. If you want to hear more Wild stories like this one, make sure to follow the Wild Business Growth Podcast on your favorite app and tell a friend about the podcast and then try out multiple Original Stretchlaces with them. You can also find us on Goodpods, where there are good podcasts and podcast recommendations. And for any help with podcast production, you can learn more at MaxPodcasting.com and sign up for free to the Podcasting to the Max newsletter. That’s at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter. Until next time, let your business Run Wild…Bring on the Bongos!!
