In this week's episode, I interviewed my good friend Rene Delgado, the Founder and CEO of Indoor Golf Shop
Like you, the Indoor Golf Shop loves golf, it’s a wonderful game that can bring us together for good times and fierce competition. Like you, the team at the Indoor Golf Shop has played golf for most of our lives – it’s timeless and has given us many great memories shared with friends and family.
In 2017, they saw an opportunity to offer golf simulator packages and indoor golf solutions to golfers. It started with their purchase of a golf simulator, and they soon realized there must be a better way than the frustration they experienced during that process. The Indoor Golf Shop was born, and they made the commitment back then that still stands today – their business will be defined by providing extraordinary customer service and offering exceptional products of the highest quality.
Today, their team strives to deliver on that promise every day. Within their 50,000 square foot corporate headquarters located in Celina, Texas, just north of Dallas, is our sales office, manufacturing facility, shipping and receiving department, and warehouse. This online store is only part of a diverse business that also includes custom home golf simulator design and installation, commercial golf simulator services, and contract manufacturing for leading golf technology brands.
They are fortunate to partner with many inspiring companies and mission-driven individuals and know that their success results from these important collaborations. Because of their incredible partners, talented team, and amazing customers, they earned the No. 400 on the annual Inc. 5000 List, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America.
In this week's episode, I interviewed my good friend Rene Delgado, the Founder and CEO of Indoor Golf Shop
Like you, the Indoor Golf Shop loves golf, it’s a wonderful game that can bring us together for good times and fierce competition. Like you, the team at the Indoor Golf Shop has played golf for most of our lives – it’s timeless and has given us many great memories shared with friends and family.
In 2017, they saw an opportunity to offer golf simulator packages and indoor golf solutions to golfers. It started with their purchase of a golf simulator, and they soon realized there must be a better way than the frustration they experienced during that process. The Indoor Golf Shop was born, and they made the commitment back then that still stands today – their business will be defined by providing extraordinary customer service and offering exceptional products of the highest quality.
Today, their team strives to deliver on that promise every day. Within their 50,000 square foot corporate headquarters located in Celina, Texas, just north of Dallas, is our sales office, manufacturing facility, shipping and receiving department, and warehouse. This online store is only part of a diverse business that also includes custom home golf simulator design and installation, commercial golf simulator services, and contract manufacturing for leading golf technology brands.
They are fortunate to partner with many inspiring companies and mission-driven individuals and know that their success results from these important collaborations. Because of their incredible partners, talented team, and amazing customers, they earned the No. 400 on the annual Inc. 5000 List, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America.
Today we play golf. Let me show you how we do it in the pros. Welcome to Behind the Golf Brand podcast. I never missed with the Seven Iron , a conversation with some of the most interesting innovators and entrepreneurs behind the biggest names in golf. My friends were the golf clubs. I lived on the golf course, I lived on the driving range from Pro Talk . You
Speaker 2:Should learn something from each and every single round. You play
Speaker 1:To fun from on and off the green. Why would you play golf if you don't play it for money? Just let me put the ball in a hole. This is Behind the Golf Brand podcast with Paul Libert tore .
Speaker 3:What's up guys? Welcome to the Behind the Golf Brand podcast. This week I have my good friend Renee Delgado from Indoor Golf Shop. Indoor Golf Shop, has some of the coolest golf sim stuff around. And I'm really excited to talk to 'em , talk about how they started their brand, how fast they're growing, and kinda like how they, you know, are navigating the market with all the new products that are coming out. So welcome to the show. Hey
Speaker 2:Paul . Thanks for having me, man.
Speaker 3:So where do you live?
Speaker 2:We live, I guess the closest big city is Dallas, but we live in a suburb north of Dallas called Salina. It's about 15 minutes north of where the new PGA headquarters is at in Briscoe. So , uh, I
Speaker 3:Heard like Frisco's like blowing up, isn't it? That's what somebody told me. They're like, it's the one of the fastest growing cities right now, or something like that. That
Speaker 2:True dude. Yeah, it's, it's crazy. Frisco used to just be cow pasture and , uh, vacant land like 15 years ago. Now it's, it's a city in and of itself. Um, so it's growing pretty quick.
Speaker 3:Why do you think the PGA moved there? Just 'cause it's growing? Is there a reason? I don't know . The reason is , I have no idea.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, look, I mean, Texas is an attractive place for, you know, to set up shop. Uh , lots of businesses are moving, moving out here, north Texas, Frisco in particular's got a bunch of stuff. I mean, the Cowboys headquarters is over here. MLF uh , soccer is in Frisco, I think like the Hall of Fame in Frisco. So there's a lot of stuff , uh, in Frisco in this area in general.
Speaker 3:Um, I mean that makes sense. I , I know that that new facility is supposed to be like crazy big, right? And like, like super fancy. The PGA thing. I don't know . It's a somebody , they might move ATGA show there. I don't know if that's true or not.
Speaker 2:I've been hearing , uh, I've been hearing some rumors. I know they moved out. Um, so there used to be another show in Vegas, the Vegas that was more like , uh, apparel. They moved that one out here. It was just a couple weeks ago. Oh , it was ,
Speaker 3:I mean, it makes sense if they did move the big Florida one. Well, I don't , they need a lot of real estate for that and I don't know if they have that kind
Speaker 2:Of Florida . Yeah, the Florida one is pretty insane. I mean, yes .
Speaker 3:Didn't know have you been to it? It's
Speaker 2:Huge. Yeah. Yeah, several times. It's cool though, man, I, I love going out there and looking at all the new tech and everything that they've got, but it's, it's pretty massive. I don't know. I don't even know. It's , I , it's , I if they have the room right here , everything .
Speaker 3:Yeah. There's no freaking way, dude. Like, you have , you could have all that real estate, right? Like all those like Yeah . Side rooms and whatever, and the square mile under glass and all the other Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yep . Yeah. But it's a nice setup . I actually haven't had a chance to like go tour it yet. Um, but I've got a bunch of buddies that have been out there and , um, they're, they say it's fricking amazing, you know, I've heard that . I mean, they've , they've got like tons of, like, they've got like a , about golf sim setups over there. They've got like, full on putting greens inside bunkers and short game facilities and all that stuff. It's , it's a pretty serious , uh, deal that they put in.
Speaker 3:That's cool. So are you a golf pro?
Speaker 2:I'm not a golf pro.
Speaker 3:How good
Speaker 2:Are you? I'm not , uh, I used to be good. Um, I used to be decent back in the day, but , um, no, I mean, look, I, I grew up , uh, playing golf. I played golf in school. Um, now it's funny, I, I play more golf, like when I travel than I do when I'm in town. Um, I just, I don't really have the time to play as much as I do. Um, but it's cool to , to hit a couple shots on the sim every now and then. And, but we've got several of them set up here and stuff, so I always mess around on 'em .
Speaker 3:So did you play golf, like growing up? Like, was your dad into golf or your grandpa or grandma or what?
Speaker 2:Yeah, my dad , uh, my dad was into golf and he introduced me , uh, to the game early on. So I was probably maybe four when I started playing, you know, and , um, I , uh, I'd start to go out practice with him and then , uh, he'd always take me out with like his work buddies. Um, so I, I got into it and got hooked early on. And then I started to get somewhat serious , um, when I was like 13 , uh, 1314. Started to get lessons and had a coach and all that good stuff started to play in tournaments. But , um, I love it, man. It, it's, it's a great sport. Like it teaches so many great principles and values , um, that can be applied just in your life in general. Um, and I like the challenge. I mean, I , I liked that it was a competition of one , you know, as opposed to like a team sport , um, which was cool. 'cause I mean, you were the only one that you could blame for anything. Um, but yeah, I, I love it. You play.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm like good though. I'm like a 15 right now or something, which is good. Yeah , because I was at 24 last year. Um, that's , I'm trying to , that's get down to like single digit. I don't my goal to get on a single digit dig . I dunno if I can do that. I mean, I'm trying, probably next year I'll get there. I went down five this year, or yeah, I was at 20, I think at the beginning of the year. Someone from like 25 to 20 and then 20 to 15. But I mean,
Speaker 2:That's really good.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I think it comes down to like, I practice a lot and then I think it, it's two things . I think getting lessons for sure. And I think having the right products, like honestly, like the right clubs , yeah , the right length, like getting fitted. Like I know people are afraid of doing that kind of stuff, dude . It's like, it really does make the difference because if your clubs are too long, which was my problem, like, you're all over the place. Um, yeah. So I think like, yeah, I think that's why I always like products and I love tech and that's kinda why like, I'm excited to talk to you because about what you , you guys do. So did you grow up in Texas then? Yeah,
Speaker 2:I , uh, was born and raised in Austin. Um , nice. And uh , did you go ut I did, yeah. You could see like the football helmet and the frame . You drink up <laugh> go ut Yeah, yeah. Go horns.
Speaker 3:There you go. Yeah,
Speaker 2:Man. So I grew up in Austin. Uh , I loved it. Um , I mean, it was a lot different. Yeah, it was a lot different when I was growing up. It wasn't as big as it is now, but , um, I, I'm a Texas boy through and through. Like, I don't think I'll ever leave.
Speaker 3:I love Texas, dude. Texas is awesome. Like, I was there, I'm there last year, went four wheeling and Oh , what's that big, like, ravine, like in the middle of west Texas that's like really famous. I don't can't think of the name of it. It's called
Speaker 2:What Big Bend?
Speaker 3:I don't know . What's it called? It's by, it's by , uh, Amarillo. It's like 20 minutes from Amarillo. Um, I can't think the name of it . We went there four wheeling. It was crazy. 'cause all flat, right? And all of a sudden there's just like,
Speaker 2:Yeah .
Speaker 3:Canyons and flatness. And then we went wheeling in these canyons there . It was really crazy. Um ,
Speaker 2:Oh, seriously?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was pretty fun. My buddy and I, huh ? I saw a dude flip his jeep. Uh, I saw a freaking dude with a brand new like , uh, uh, was that Jeep truck called ? I can't even think right now. Gladiator, like, just taking bam , get the side of a mountain end . The out of it was so funny. 'cause like the gladiator's, like the gladiator's like so much longer than the Jeep. Like , it's like two feet longer. The dude like hit this fricking rock. I was like, oh , that sucked . Yeah , I saw a dude blow his transmission on the side of a mountain that really sucked. Like literally,
Speaker 2:Seriously,
Speaker 3:Like, blew his transmission. They like pull him down slowly with chains and. It was crazy.
Speaker 2:Oh geez .
Speaker 3:All I did , all I , I broke, I broke my Jeep. I broke the, like, the steering mechanism. I didn't even know that. But like, driving home, I drove home dudes 10, 12, 10 wa 10 hours. My, my steering wheel was like this, like the whole time driving home, I couldn't even like go straight. I broke the rod and whatever. I can't . Oh really? I didn't know broke the rod . My wife would've kicked my if she knew that
Speaker 2:You saw all of that in Texas and, and you still think that it's awesome.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, it was fun . I love Texas and you get a steak there for like 25 bucks. It was crazy. And the stake was like big and good . Yeah . Like here would be like 400, you know what I mean ? Just some big Oh ,
Speaker 2:Seriously.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It was crazy. I've always random stories, but, so did you play like sports in college or no,
Speaker 2:No, no. Um, I, I, I got some offers to like smaller schools to, to play golf. Um, but , uh, I always knew like I wasn't good enough and I wasn't good enough to be a pro or anything like that. So , um, you know, I , uh, studied engineering in school and UT
Speaker 3:Engineering , uh,
Speaker 2:Electrical.
Speaker 3:Nice. But
Speaker 2:Don't ask me how to change , uh, a light bulb or do any sort of wiring stuff. Like my wife hates it. I, I don't know anything about , uh, electricity anymore. Um, it's kind of embarrassing. I'm gonna
Speaker 3:Watch . Do you graduate engineering degree ? Seriously? Electrical engineering .
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Dude , that's hard. That's like the hardest one of all. The engineering.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I knew so many people that , of them , like, they all like failed out of it and they would go into like electrical engineering technology, which was like the, the less math version or whatever, you know what I mean? Like Yeah .
Speaker 2:Like ,
Speaker 3:Oh, we're, we're more hands on . Um,
Speaker 2:Yeah,
Speaker 3:I know <inaudible> filled out . Double E sold me ,
Speaker 2:Dude. It was , it was a bit of a shock, man. I , uh, you know, I was used to, like, I didn't go to a super small high school. I mean, my class was 600, 650 people. Um, but I mean, I , like I did, I did well. Um, and then I got to college and the EE degree and it was like a freight train smacked me in the face. <laugh>. Like , I remember I, I aced my first engineering test and then my next test in a different class, I got like a 17 on it. Um, and I started to , uh, to freak out. But yeah, I wasn't, it wasn't easy. Um, but I'm so happy and fortunate that I'm not doing that kind of stuff now and I get to do what I do. Um, so, you know, it all panned out.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I was like , I did aeronautical engineering and like, it was not like that. It was different, but
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Um, so what happened when you graduated college? Did you just go get a job as an engineer somewhere? What'd you do?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Um, so I graduated and I actually moved out to south Florida , um, to Fort Lauderdale. I, I'd had like, kinda like a half engineering, half operations job , um, was doing like , uh, manufacturing operations , uh, for Motorola actually. Um, so I , I was out there in south Florida for a couple years and I transferred back to Texas , uh, with Motorola. And , um, was was pretty much just, well, I moved , uh, that was back here in Dallas, so I came back to Dallas. Um, and then I, I did that kind of stuff. Uh, I worked for Verizon Wireless, kind of doing the same kind of stuff . Another regional carrier , uh, US Cellular. Um, it's based in the Midwest. Um, and then Beats by Dre and then Apple. Um, and then after Apple , um, I kind of started doing this full-time. What
Speaker 3:Were you doing for like Apple and Beast by Dre ? Like sales or like engineering?
Speaker 2:No , um, so by that point in time, like I had focused more on operations , um, so like forward logistics, reverse logistics , uh, repair, refurbishment , uh, remanufacturing, stuff like that. So , um, for Beats , I was essentially, we had a small team, small company, like when I was there. Um, so I was kind of in charge of the reverse logistics , uh, globally. So setting up a network in the us Canada, we had a facility in Hong Kong, Europe. Um, so I was really, really involved. And then , um, when Apple bought Beats , um, I kind of got sucked into that , uh, much bigger organization and , uh, you know , worked with an operations over there for almost four years . Years . Oh wow.
Speaker 3:That's crazy. So then how, like when, like, how'd you start indoor golf? Like what happened?
Speaker 2:I , uh, I was bored actually. Um, so you , what year was that? You got , this was like in, it was late 2016 , um, early 2017. Um, so like, I don't know . I'm, I'm the kind of person that has to be like super busy and passionate about what I'm doing, right. Um, I like having a lot on my plate and, you know, I like, I view it as a challenge. I , so when I was at Beats by Dre, you know, I had a, a really big scope of responsibility. It was exciting. I was traveling a lot. Um, you know, I had a lot of facilities globally. And then nothing against Apple. I mean, I love Apple. It's a hell of a company. Um, but when you get absorbed into like that kind of a , an organization, your scope of responsibility goes from this to like this.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So you go from like being in like a startup to like a corporation and you're just like, no , you're ,
Speaker 2:You're
Speaker 3:The guy that does that. And you're like,
Speaker 2:And that's it. You know ? So ,
Speaker 3:Oh , you get paid a lot of money to do less work. Yeah .
Speaker 2:It's
Speaker 3:Gonna be the one thing you're gonna do all day and you're gonna be like, that sucks.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I mean, look it, like, for some people, like, they love that, right? Um, I think for me and like, you know, a lot of entrepreneurs, like, that's just not the kind of life that they
Speaker 3:Want . You can't , yeah. You're wired a certain way and you can't change that. Like, that's not gonna ch like you can't undo
Speaker 2:That.
Speaker 3:Yeah . You just can't.
Speaker 2:So, I mean, it , it was a blessing in disguise. Like, I mean, I , I was really frustrated and unmotivated for like, the first three years that I was there. But then , um, the last year I kind of opened my eyes and I've always kind of had like an entrepreneurial itch. Like I've always had like side , uh, hustles.
Speaker 3:Hustles ,
Speaker 2:Um , yeah . You know? And um, so I decided , uh, you know , like I remember when my wife and I started dating, this was , uh, like 12 years ago, 12 , 13 years ago. Um, the first time she came to my house, I had like three , uh, cars. No , I had like four cars in the driveway. 'cause my first deal was I , I would, I'd buy cars at auctions and then just flip 'em, you know, I'd buy 'em across the border in Oklahoma, bring 'em in, fix 'em up a little bit, and then flip 'em. And I did that for a while. Um, but she , uh, 'cause like, what the hell are you ?
Speaker 3:Like , wtf, what is this guy doing?
Speaker 2:Dude , you know? Um , she's
Speaker 3:Like , uh, nah , I'm not dating this guy . That guy . Weird.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But just like stupid stuff like that, you know, just anything that I could do , uh, you know, to like add value and make an extra buck. Um, so I kind of had that already. Um, I had gotten like into real estate and flipping houses. And
Speaker 3:Did you get a real estate license?
Speaker 2:No . Uh
Speaker 3:Oh , I did that too . I
Speaker 2:Didn't get , I did , I did that
Speaker 3:Too , too . And then I got a real estate license because I was like, I don't even paying nobody 3%. Like I'm gonna get my own license. It only cost me two grand and I'll get my own license and I'll make, so my very first house, I just got my real estate license. I bought my first house and I got like six grand, like free money by just doing my first deal. I'm like, oh , this is great. This is before the market crashed. Yeah .
Speaker 2:It was
Speaker 3:Awesome.
Speaker 2:The first , yeah , it was , it was fun. Um, it was fun. It was a little stressful too . It was challenging. Like, I felt like a little bit outta my super stressful.
Speaker 3:It was stressful
Speaker 2:Because it was all, it was all new. Like, I hadn't, I'd never done that. I mean, like, I bought my primary residence.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You
Speaker 2:Know, like I , I bought like three houses before that point in time, but , um, never really flipped houses. So , um, it was like a really steep learning curve. And like, the first, I don't know .
Speaker 3:Did you get hard money too?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well , it depends. 'cause like we would , we would buy, we'd buy houses like creatively too. Um, you know, like we would buy houses subject to the underlying mortgage where we'd like step in and like assume the mortgage and stuff like that. But we did buy houses using , um, private capital and stuff . That
Speaker 3:18% interest compounded monthly. I know . Yeah. We flipping those
Speaker 2:Too . Yeah. I mean, it's expensive, but then like, when you start doing the renos and stuff, that's when it gets like, super stressful because the contractors, at least contractors that like we use, like, they're running super reliable, you know? Yeah. They're
Speaker 3:On their own schedule. Like they might not show up at all. And you got <inaudible> like 10 times and then they're gonna show up. Yeah . And then they're gonna do half the job and they have to call another 10 times to finish the other half of the job. But you gotta close in so many days and they don't, they don't care.
Speaker 2:Yeah . Yeah. Exactly what you're talking about . That's the stressful part , bro . Job .
Speaker 3:Once we had this like, old house that was like, in a really fancy area, but it was an old house, right? So we had , we remodeled the inside and it had original Saltillo floors right. From like the thirties. Oh,
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 3:And this dumb painted the effing walls and did not put any kind of thing down on the Saltillo. And so when he left, we had white paint everywhere, dude on the Saltillo, you know, what did it's, and it's, this guy's such a, so we didn't know he did this. And then he sealed it, he put sealer over it. So now we had white splotches all over our Saltillo. So we had to hire another company, come in and like grind all the Saltillo down and then reseal it. It was like five grand to do that. Meanwhile, you're like, you're paying right. For hard money. Oh yeah. It was terrible.
Speaker 2:Dude. That's horrible. Yeah. So we did that. We did that for a couple years , uh, and everything was great. Like we , uh, you know , make good money. Um , and then I had this one house that was like , uh, what's that movie with Tom Hanks? Um ,
Speaker 3:Oh , the Money Pit? Yeah. <laugh> . We all have that house that , that was my house that was talking about right now . That was the house that house got broken into all the time. People stole the copper out of it. I was like, dude.
Speaker 2:Yeah . It was horrible, man. But when I got this house, man, I bought it and it was like on land , um, in Austin , uh, like southwest Austin. I was gonna like , um, double the square footage of the house. And I was like, man, we're gonna make so much on this house. Um, and then like, long story short, like we ended up going through three different crews. Um , like the first , uh, crew, like messed up like royally and just left the property, like in utter disarray. And then some of the permits weren't pulled correctly, blah, blah, blah. Like, it was a , it was, it was a nightmare. Like, I mean, super stressful. So who money on ,
Speaker 3:Did you break even?
Speaker 2:No, I lost my on it.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You're like that , was that the last house?
Speaker 2:That was the last, that was the last flip . Yeah . You're ,
Speaker 3:I'm not doing any more houses, bro . Like , after that I'm effing away . No way . That
Speaker 2:Was the last, that was the last flip . So like, now, like, even like, we've got like investment properties , they're like rentals. Um , that's easy. Yeah. But so after that last , uh, disaster of a money pit, that's when I started to, in golf , looking into other things, you know, I was like, man, I need something . It's so stressful .
Speaker 3:It's so stressful, dude. It's so , I knew a guy who, like, he like, took money out of his house, main house. And then he , uh, like bought a rental and like, he was like rental. Like, he essentially, at one point, this is before the market crashed, he had like 15 rentals. Dude, it was crazy. Oh , wow. Right. Because it , and like, you know, little money down, balloon payment, all this. And then the market crashed that that dude lost everything. He lost. Yeah .
Speaker 2:Like
Speaker 3:His entire life. Like, he lost all those houses. He lost his main house. Like, he lost everything. And I was like, and that was , we, we were investing with him in the very beginning. And he is like, I wanna do it on my own. I don't wanna invest with you guys anymore. And we're like, all right , fine. My dad and I, good thing dude, that, that dude lost millions and millions of dollars. Like, he lost everything. Like, like his main house. He lost his main house. Like, it was crazy. So it's like, that'd
Speaker 2:Be the worst.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Like, and we were stressed with like that house that people were like breaking into and stuff . I was so glad. Yeah . After that we were done. We didn't do anymore after that. We're like, this is stupid.
Speaker 2:Yeah .
Speaker 3:We'll just , yeah , it sounds all great and everything, but it's not, it's just not, I mean, I mean, it will work. I people ,
Speaker 2:At some point , people like romanticize it too much and like people get too obsessed and fixated like over what they see on social media and Yeah . Yeah .
Speaker 3:I mean, million dollars on this house, like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. But no man, honestly, like, it was a blessing in disguise. 'cause like, if that wouldn't have happened , um, you probably wouldn't. Yeah, I'd have done it again and I wouldn't like be where I am to get, like, I wouldn't have started, you know , the indoor golf shop. So,
Speaker 3:So then, all right , so you started in 2016, like how did you start indoor golf shop?
Speaker 2:So , um, it was actually, so the indoor golf shop was actually like my third , uh, so lemme back up. So after like that debacle, I started looking, what can I do? Like what , what can I build online? Right? So that I could do anything, right. I could work anywhere . Um , it was like location, independent, blah, blah, blah . So , um, I came across like drop shipping, right? So I like learned a bunch of stuff and I made , um, a couple of like drop shipping sites in stores. Um , like what,
Speaker 3:What were you drop shipping?
Speaker 2:Well, like , uh, the first one? Yeah, the first one was crap. Right? Just like
Speaker 3:I got, I know a dude who's like, is all excited about drop shipping and he is like, look , and they built me this website, and like , he showed me and it was like literally all crap. It was like, no one's gonna buy that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So like the first one , like, I hated and I closed it down after a while , um, it made money, but like, I just didn't stand behind like the product. It was just like trinkets, you know, like little jewelry trinkets and stuff. Stuff like that . Stuff . Dumb stuff . Yeah. Stuff that you would like drop ship from China over like the states and stuff. Like
Speaker 3:So you'd buy a swap meat pretty much is what it is. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like
Speaker 3:Knock off, knock off stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So then , um, and , and those were just like little gimmicky things. I mean like 10 bucks, 20 bucks, whatever. So then, you know, I started doing a little bit more research and it's like, well, it probably takes the same amount of work and effort to sell something that's $2,000 as much as something that's $20. Right? So then I started looking at, well, what are like high ticket items that I can, you know, drop ship essentially? Um , and so, funny enough, like the first store that I did, like high ticket items , um, was a , was like outdoor , um, outdoor like play equipment. So I had a store, it was called the Bounce House store. It was just bounce houses, right? Residential and then commercial bounce houses, and then the buy . Yeah. And then we re rebranded it to the outdoor play store. Actually, the website's still there. Like it's on the back burner. I haven't done anything with it, but I think that that store has a lot of potential when I apply the resources to it. Um, yeah,
Speaker 3:Now you know what you're doing too, right? Because it is like six, seven years later.
Speaker 2:And it did, it did really, really well. I mean, like in 2019 and then 2020, there were months where that store did more than the indoor golf shop. Um, so the potential was there, but we didn't do like the indoor golf shop, what we did so well,
Speaker 3:We crushed it , dude , during Covid , could you imagine?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Well, that we did do well, but then we ran into some buyers
Speaker 3:Into a shop too , so doesn't really matter .
Speaker 2:Yeah . Anyways, I mean, that, that store, like, it's still there. It's like it's on the back burner. Um, if we vertically integrate that store and move away from drop shipping like we've done with the indoor golf shop to where like we manufacture our own stuff , um, it's got a ton of potential. But , um, but yeah, I mean, that, that store did well. And then shortly after I launched that one, I did , uh, the golf shop. So it was , uh, shop indoor golf.com , which is the indoor golf shop. And it's something that I've always been passionate about golf, right? And I just kind of happened to stumble across it because I bought a sim , um, right around the time that I started this thing. And it was just a pain in the to go and find information and resources , um, to be able to like, educate myself to make a decision and then ultimately buy the product. Like there wasn't a one stop shop place where you could get information and resources and then also buy and then get like the support that you need to set it up and then troubleshoot and all that stuff. So , um, that was kind like the pitch that , um, I gave a lot of the technology manufacturers was, you know, I'll do the legwork By that point in time, like I , I'd learned a lot about digital marketing and how to build a website and code and all that stuff. So we would do all of like the heavy lifting on the marketing and e-commerce side of things , um, and then support the customers. So , um, fortunately we got a couple of them to agree. And then , um, so who , who
Speaker 3:Initially came on board ? Like who was your initials?
Speaker 2:So Sky Track was like, Skyra was my first one. Um , they're our first one. Um , and biggest one , um, true golf ,
Speaker 3:I'm assuming.
Speaker 2:Yeah, true golf was there , um, foresight , uh, you know, like Earnest Sports Opti shot . Um, UNICOR , funny enough, actually would not let me in , uh, when we first , uh, started. Um, so Unicor, UNICOR has like taken like the US market by storm. Um, it's really great hardware , uh, product outta Korea. Um, but when they, when they came to the us , like nobody knew who they were. Um, so it took them a little bit of time to, you know, like really start to take off. Um, so that was like 20, I wanna say like 2019. Um, I started to have conversations with them , and by that point in time we were already like top seller of several like technology manufacturers. Uh, but unicor, funny enough, like they wanted us , um, they wouldn't let us in unless we committed to buying and prepaying for like 20 or 30 units, like right off the get go . Holy God . Um, and I mean, to me, like, it , it's a lot of money . Just doesn't make sense. Yeah, it's a lot of money, but also like, it's a lot of money's
Speaker 3:Not like it's a thousand bucks. You know what I mean? You're talking about like 3,300 grand
Speaker 2:Unit. Yeah, exactly. So , um, what what I had to do was , um, I told 'em , look, I'll, I'll sell your 20 or 30 units, I'll buy 'em at retail. If you don't want to give me wholesale initially just to show you that we know how to move the products, so we would just bundle it with our packages and our soft goods and make money off of soft goods. Um,
Speaker 3:You a margin on that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But now, I mean, we're their biggest reseller , uh, by a lot. Um, we love the product. I mean, we've got great relationships with Unicor and all of our other technology partners. Um, but , uh, but yeah, that's kind of how it started. Um, just dropshipping , uh, dropshipping was easy. It was scalable, it didn't require a lot of overhead. Um, but it's also , also right
Speaker 3:Or
Speaker 2:Space. But then for those reasons also, you know, it's low barrier of entry, so anybody can do it. Right. Um, if, if, if these companies , well , it drops
Speaker 3:To the margin. Not as good though, right? Like even still, if you're getting a , I mean a wholesale or a little bit above wholesale, like, let's just pretend for the unit, the margins aren't there. I mean, they're, they're not there to scale. It's there to make a , you can make money on it, right? But like,
Speaker 2:Yeah,
Speaker 3:Like, I think what's cool, what you guys are doing is like, you make your soft goods, right? And like, that's, that's a real differentiator.
Speaker 2:Yep . A hundred percent . Um, so yeah, so that's, so that's what we did. So like , uh, we started drop shipping and then , um, had a couple of really good years. Uh, and then like I've, I'm really big on kind of like forecasting out and trying to see like where the demand is gonna be, like what it is that's gonna differentiate. Um, like one of my biggest mottos is like, adapt or die, right? You always have to be innovating. You always have to be adapting if you rest on your laurels and just like, sit on your hands, like it's a death sentence. Um, so having like that kind of mentality, I was like, okay, what can we do different? Right? Like, I don't, I don't wanna just be like a drop shipper, right? So the next thing we did, we started , we started to like become distributors. So we'd take possession of product, get a little bit more margin, we would do all of our fulfillment value added , like reser services, like repacking and stuff like that. Um, and then we did that for only like a couple of months. And then we started to get into like, manufacturing. Um, there was like significant investment in manufacturing, right? Because you've gotta , you've gotta do , uh, capital equipment, you need space overhead, you need , uh, subject matter experts that know what they're doing and that stuff. Um, but we also get to kind of control our own destiny and , um, you know, we, we own the supply chain, right? And that was like one thing that really opened my eyes was coming outta Covid, right? Because Covid, the demand was there. Like, I think it fast forwarded our space like two or three years , um, into the future. Like it was always kind of trending up, but then covid hit and it just went gangbusters. Um, but supply was an issue, right? During Covid , um, for lots of different reasons. Yeah . And, you know, coming out of that, I was like, you know what, like I've gotta , I've gotta control as much as possible to mitigate the supply
Speaker 4:Chain. Yeah,
Speaker 2:Yeah. Mitigate supply risk in the future. Um, so, and it was like, well, what do we manufacture? You know, do we want to like get into tech? Hell no. Like , um, that stuff is so complicated and people have already spent millions upon millions of dollars to like do that stuff, even if we were to try it. Like, there's no guarantee of success. It's a money pit. So soft goods soft was , yeah. Soft goods was the way to go, right? So it's like, well , what do I know about like, making a screen or an enclosure or a putting green? You know, I didn't know any, like you're talking about getting into the textile business. It's textile manufacturing, right? So we started from scratch. We brought in an SME , um, you know, they, they started to bring on , uh, industrial , uh, sewers . And we got all the equipment. We got , uh, CNC cutting machines. And we've got, these big machines are like 15 by 37. Um, they're like the opposite of an air hockey table. They like suck the fabric down, and then you've got your programs , uh, and everything. So everything that we make is digitized first, and it's repeatable and reproducible, right? So if you've got a screen that's template , right , 16 by ten two , you just get the material on there and it cuts it out every single time. So it kind of went hand in hand with like, some of my prior experience too, like on the ops side in manufacturing and stuff like that. It's , um, but that was like a huge, huge, like, fundamental shift for us, right? We went from dropshipper to distributor to , uh, full-blown like manufacturer, and it opened up a lot of doors for us. Um, not only did we get like margin expansion in that we made the goods ourselves, so we didn't have to go to the middlemen. Um, but we could also start getting to like contract manufacturing services so we could manufacture products on , you know, for other people we could like private label products , um, for other people. Uh, and that's what we started to do. So it, it kind of opened up new revenue streams for us, right? We used to be just a hundred percent direct to consumer. And it led to us kind of tapping into this B two B network , uh, with contract manufacturing and then indoor golf facilities and , and stuff like that. Um, and
Speaker 3:The customs too, right? Like people coming to you for a custom Yeah . Or whatever. It's like there's big money in
Speaker 2:That . Yeah. Yeah. Part of our business too is, is that custom stuff. So I mean like the high end design and build . So we do like design and installation , uh, in Canada, the US and then Latin America. But every single one of those jobs is completely different, right? Yeah. It's all custom.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's all custom different .
Speaker 2:So the ability, I mean, our , our team does such a good job. Um, you know, we've got a team of designers that do the two D and then three D space that then gets translated over into like a production plan. We manufacture everything. Um, so it's a really good seamless like, integrated process and people are getting exactly what they want and they see it before we actually make it and then install it. Um, but yeah, all , all those, like the automation, the equipment , um, that's all helped us tremendously to be able to scale , scale and like keep up with everything.
Speaker 3:So you guys have grown a ton then, huh?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Um, we grew, we grew pretty quick , uh, pretty fast. Um, which was super quick. Super quick. Yeah. So I mean, like it , and that was something too, like, you kind of learn, you learn it's trial by fire. Like you learn on the job, right? It's a way to learn . I mean, when you , there's ,
Speaker 3:There's no books for this. It's like, yeah , you have to learn , you have to fail on something, you
Speaker 2:Gotta
Speaker 3:Reassess, you gotta try it again. It's like just,
Speaker 2:Yeah, I
Speaker 3:Don't know , troubleshooting, but there's like light .
Speaker 2:Yeah. And it sucks, but it's fun, you know , um, at the same time. But like going from like a million to five requires different people, different processes , um, different expertise. Then you go from five to 10 and it's like the same thing. Like, you know, the people or the processes, the ways that you did things to go, go from one to five don't apply anymore when you go from five to 10, then 10 to 20, you know, 20 to 30. It's like the same kind of thing. You need more systems and automation. Like the bigger that you get more processes to be able to scale and do things consistently over and over and over. Um, you know, but like we, we started, it was just me and then me and my wife , um, as late as like early 2020 , uh, it was just me and my wife. And now
Speaker 3:Is that when you're drop shipping and stuff?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah . Now , uh, between the US and Canada, we've got 60, 65 people. Um, so yeah, we've grown, we've grown really quick. I mean, a lot, most of that's like direct numbers , like manufacturing and then distribution and uh , 'cause you're doing more stuff .
Speaker 3:You weren't , yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But , uh, but yeah, I mean we, we grew super, super quick. So I mean , um, and, and we're, we're continuing to grow, which is a good, good trend. It's a good thing. Um, which just kind of validates it , like what we're doing and the vision that we have is sound and, you know, it , it's working. Um, 'cause that, that's, that's the hard part too , um, is not to grow too quick because growth sucks up a lot of cash, right. Um, there's a lot of capital investments and , and things that have to be , uh, like you gotta buy a lot of , uh, in order to be able to support the growth . Not only that, yeah . But
Speaker 3:Yeah , your stuff and stuff you're buying is not cheap. Right. It's machinery. It's , it's like you're investing in big stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah. The machinery's not cheap. Um, I mean the , the human, we've got human capital. I mean, that's, that's not cheap. We offer , um, like full benefits to all of our employees and, and all that stuff, which is nice, but it's not cheap. Um, you know, we need a lot of real estate to be able to like operate. Um, so like we, we actually, we just closed , uh, we bought the commercial property that , uh, we operate out of , um, like three months ago. Oh , wow. So, yeah. So we've got, you know, like seven acres and 50,000 square feet of like commercial space and like a new showroom that we're building , um, which is great, right? Long term . I mean that, that's a great investment. Um, but , but it's not, but it's not cheap and it sucks up a lot of money, you know? Yeah . And
Speaker 3:Time and a lot, a lot of time to figure all that out, right? Like, it's not,
Speaker 2:And , and stress and attorneys and may like their money. Um,
Speaker 3:right.
Speaker 2:But , uh, but no man, like, you know, like we, we've built a really solid kind of business and we've got like the best team in the business too. Um, you know, everyone, like, everyone that's here. And it , it wasn't easy, you know, 'cause culture's a big thing at the indoor golf shop, and we've got our set of like, core values that have a golf bin on 'em . Um, and it took a couple of iterations to get the right people with the right stuff that would gel and fit in and had the same beliefs and everything. But now we've got a really sound team that we can , um, leverage and just continue to grow and build off of. So , um, I'm excited to see like how we continue to kind of like trend forward and what , what the future holds for us. But , um, I think, I think we're just getting started. Well,
Speaker 3:I think it's really cool because like, you know, there's probably, let's say a handful and that's being very generous of like, brands that are doing it right in that space, you know? And I think like everyone's kind of edging to see who's gonna be the top dog, right? And I think what you guys are doing all the right things. So like, I think you're poised to, you know, really do like a lot in the next couple years. And I , I mean , I know who your competitors are, like it's , it's, yeah ,
Speaker 2:Pretty
Speaker 3:For me, it's pretty easy to figure that out. But like, yeah , it's like interesting because it's like everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and it's like, kinda like you were saying before, it's like, you know, being able to invest in the capital, invest in this future of the brand, and it's not just, oh, we sell product, like we sell sims or we sell, you know , uh, launch monitors or whatever it is. It's like being able to be like a one-stop shop really? Yeah.
Speaker 2:And
Speaker 3:Say , oh, we can do the custom, or we can do greens and we can do this and we can do full , like the whole nine yards. And you're like, oh yeah, we also sell that. But like, we still sell those units, but that's just, that's just one piece of the pie, right? Yeah . That's not , that's the brain. It's not the whole room. Um , right.
Speaker 2:Yeah . That's a lot's difficult
Speaker 3:To move towards that .
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, look, I , I think there's, there's been a lot of consolidation in this space and there will continue to be consolidation in the space. Um, I think if you look at like, kind of like the industry and who's doing well,
Speaker 3:Those
Speaker 2:That have vertically integrated are doing well. Um, you know, it's, it's so important to be able to control your own destiny as much as possible. And you know, we, there's so many different facet such Yeah . And
Speaker 3:You can't sell. That's the other thing too. Like, you can't sell like, you know, like, oh yeah, here's our $7,000 one, and it's like they think it's exciting and they get it and it's, right? Like , oh , this
Speaker 2:Just
Speaker 3:Graph and the , the , the screen breaks right away. Like your host at that point, like, you need to like be able to like stand behind that product and be like, oh, that's really a good deal for seven grand or 10 grand or 15 grand or whatever you wanna
Speaker 2:Spend . Yeah .
Speaker 3:Um, I , I think you're seeing a lot of, well, I've seen recently, like a lot of people are trying to come down on those kits, let's call it like, like let's get the most bare bone thing. But it's like buyer beware, you know? It's like, is that really a good kit? Because like that Sky trek st plus is three grand. So what do you think a $3,500 units , the $3,500 room's gonna be? Like, I mean, yeah .
Speaker 2:There's not
Speaker 3:So much money there. Um , right. And I think by you guys, like putting the infrastructure in place, be like, look , we're making all this stuff. We're not just buying it from somebody else and selling it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And
Speaker 3:Be like, here's our kit. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that, and that's like you mentioned like a really good point. Like, I've always hated to compete on price. Like I think it's, that leads to a race to the bottom and everybody loses, right? So like we, we never really strive to be the cheapest. Like we don't strive to be the most expensive, but we're like kinda like a premium , uh, brand. You know, we're not the Lamborghini, but we're not the , uh, Kia either. Um, but yeah, like product is everything. You have to stand behind your product. Like our stream material, nobody has it. Um , it's proprietary blend that we work with, a mill with. We have exclusivity on it. Like nobody has it . Same thing with our hitting mats, our hitting mats. Nobody has our hitting mat. Like we made that hitting mat from scratch. Um, and if you look at like, all the reviews and then like all the <inaudible> that it's like garnered in, in , uh, in the public and from other people like my golf spa and , um, hackers paradise and stuff like that. Like the product is good. Um, so when you couple that with, you know, like the level of service that we provide our customers and the education and the support and the help that we offer, like, it's a unique combination that not many others, if any kind of provided , you know, 'cause it's, it's, it's about the whole journey, right? You have to, you have to excel at each step of the customer journey. Pre-sale, post-sale , um, and like a misstep screws you, you know,
Speaker 3:Like, it ,
Speaker 2:It only takes one bad review to completely mess you up. Um, so we're really big, we're really big on the customer. Like I am like always in the customer's favor. Like always, always, always do what's right for the customer. Like put yourself in their position and do what you would want done. Like, you know, if we're talking about like arguing over a $50 or even a $300 like deal or a mishap, no. Like do what's right for the customer. They're the ones that keep the lights on. And so I , and
Speaker 3:They're gonna come back too . That's the thing . Like if they buy a cheaper one and they're happy with that for a couple years, and then now they're ready to buy the next one. If they have a good experience and they're like ready to upgrade, they're going right back to you. I mean, like, that's, that's your car . That's your car .
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So that's been, I mean, that's been tough, right? Because I mean, it's hard to kind of like write an SOP on that too, you know, like when we talk about like scaling and like , uh, defining things,
Speaker 3:It's hard. I wouldn't even know how to write an SOP on that.
Speaker 2:That's a culture and that ,
Speaker 3:And it comes from the top down . That's all it is , right? Like you can't instill that. It's just that's our mantra, right? Or that's how we do it here and you know, you have SOP for production or, you know .
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:But I mean, it's crazy. Like, 'cause you guys sell a lot of stuff, dude. Like, you don't, like, you're not, you know, 'cause some brands only sell like, oh, we only have four companies we, you know, make the sims with. It's like you have everybody pretty much. Like I don't , I I don't see anybody. We don't have, don't ,
Speaker 2:And we don't really, I mean, and , and we don't sell all of 'em either. I mean, like, we get approached quite a bit to sell like different technology and different stuff and like, unless we get our hands on the product and we stand behind the product and we believe in it, like we are not going to sell it, you know? Um, so we're, we're really selective, right? Because if we're associated with it, we're kind of putting our
Speaker 3:Reputation on mine too . Yeah . Yeah. If you , if you sell it and they have problems and it's really, it has nothing to do with you guys. It's just a whatever it was, laser or light or whatever it might be. And it's like, well now what ? The guy stuck with a $4,000 problem and it's like, well send it back to us, we'll swap it out. And now you're the one like off because now you're losing money at this point. 'cause you gotta send it back in and get a , you know, whatever RFI they call that return for Yeah .
Speaker 2:Return rma
Speaker 3:RMA. Yeah. You know, and it's like, do that once. Okay, do that twice. We're not working together anymore. 'cause your stuff's garbage and you're , that's Yep . Yeah. It's like you Yeah, I've seen that too. I mean,
Speaker 2:Yeah,
Speaker 3:You're only as good as your ,
Speaker 2:It's tough man . That's right. That's right.
Speaker 3:Well I think it's really cool what you guys are doing. Like where can people find your store?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so , um, we're primarily e-commerce. Um, so our website is shop indoor golf.com and that's where we sell , um, a lot of our like done for you golf simulator packages. Um , we also sell like DIY components like screens, turf, putting greens, things like that. And then our custom brand , um, is in-Home Golf. So if you go to in-home golf.com , that's the division within our business where we do the high-end design and build. Um, it can be both for residential and then for commercial customers as well. Um, and then we do have physical showrooms , um, in Toronto, Canada, Newark, New Jersey, south Florida, and then here in Dallas as well. So if people are local , uh, to the area or within driving distance, they can always stop by and take a look at the actual product.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. Well, I mean , you guys are doing a great job and I think you guys, honestly, if you guys are on the market of wanting to get a simulator or on , or just trying to get information to figure out what simulator to get and why, like there's a ton of free information on the site. Like they're breaking it all down for you. Like obviously they want you to buy from them, but like, they're also consolidating it so that you can make an informed decision regardless of whatever you wanna do in the future. Which is cool because a lot of people don't do that. They're just trying to sell you something. So you really have to go and check them out 'cause it's legit. Well thank you for being on the show today. Um , I really appreciate it. I hope to have you back on again in the future.
Speaker 2:Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Happy to be on.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to another episode of Behind the Golf Brand podcast. You're gonna beat me and go stay connected on and off the show by visiting golfers authority.com. Don't forget to like, subscribe and leave a comment. Golf is always more fun when you win. Stay out of the beach and see you on the green.