We made it to Episode 32 of the Behind the Golf Brand Podcast. In this week's episode, I interview my friend Shawn McConnon, the Founder and CEO of Upglove.
UpGlove got started by solving a simple problem with golf gloves. Shawn, got sick of paying $20 for a decent golf glove. This was if he thought about buying before he played and if he forgot then he would pay $24 at the pro shop for soft top-grade cabretta golf glove. He knew there had to be a more affordable and convenient way to buy golf gloves.
So he designed a glove that would provide all the benefits of a traditional soft top-grade cabretta glove and even enhance the comfort and feel. The back of the UpGlove is made with a mesh-flex material that breathes better and adds additional comfort. This keeps the golf glove from getting that 'crusty' feeling. The palm of the glove is a true thin and soft top-grade cabretta leather that every golfer craves.
He then developed a model that would never leave a golfer getting ripped off at the pro shop with a flexible subscription model that suites every type of golfer. So whether you play a little or a lot your needs can be met and never worry about shelling out $24 for a golf glove.
This allows golfers like you to save big on golf gloves and get a great glove for less than $10!
We made it to Episode 32 of the Behind the Golf Brand Podcast. In this week's episode, I interview my friend Shawn McConnon, the Founder and CEO of Upglove.
UpGlove got started by solving a simple problem with golf gloves. Shawn, got sick of paying $20 for a decent golf glove. This was if he thought about buying before he played and if he forgot then he would pay $24 at the pro shop for soft top-grade cabretta golf glove. He knew there had to be a more affordable and convenient way to buy golf gloves.
So he designed a glove that would provide all the benefits of a traditional soft top-grade cabretta glove and even enhance the comfort and feel. The back of the UpGlove is made with a mesh-flex material that breathes better and adds additional comfort. This keeps the golf glove from getting that 'crusty' feeling. The palm of the glove is a true thin and soft top-grade cabretta leather that every golfer craves.
He then developed a model that would never leave a golfer getting ripped off at the pro shop with a flexible subscription model that suites every type of golfer. So whether you play a little or a lot your needs can be met and never worry about shelling out $24 for a golf glove.
This allows golfers like you to save big on golf gloves and get a great glove for less than $10!
Today, we play a golf. Let me show you how we do it in the pros. Welcome to behind the golf brand podcast. I've never missed with the 79 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 should learn something each and every single round you play to fun from on and off the green. Why would you play golf? You don't play it for money. Just let me put the ball in the hole. This is behind the golf brand podcast. With Paul libertory behind the golf brand podcast is sponsored by OnPoint. The revolutionary three-dimensional dome golf ball marker on point provides a layman recognition as small as a degree of inaccuracy from the planned course of the putt face angle endorsed by Jim Furich us open champion and 17 time PGA tour winner on point alignment technology has been proven to increase putting performance and help lower your score. Visit OnPoint golf dot U S, and be sure to use code[inaudible] for a 10% discount on point, make more putts
Speaker 2:What's up guys, Paul from golfers authority. Welcome to the behind the golf ramp podcast. This week, I have my good friend, Shaun McConnon from up glove up glove, and I have been working together for probably about a year. Now, funny story is he actually signed up for my contests, I think. And then he was like, Hey, I got a brand. And I was like, really? And then we started talking and then we became friends. And so we reviewed up glove on the PA or on the website and we've, uh, done lots of things together. And last year was a contest and, um, Shawn's a good dude, Midwest guy. So we just kinda hit it off right away. So how about those Browns this year? You know, I'm originally from Cleveland, Ohio, you know, made the playoffs, got a win in the playoffs. It's crazy, right? Life is good. It's the first time in a thousand years of browse make a playoff. Seriously. I was talking to my mom and I was like, this is like the, the, the first time in like 30 years that we had like an important game. Uh, the Cleveland Browns COEs are starting today. Know, I thought it was so like though. It wasn't like what's, who's the guy that played from for like two years of the quarterback. Do you guys like drop them in the number one guy? What was his name? Oh, Johnny Manzell like talking crap on Twitter. I was like, really dude, like, come on. That's a, I mean, uh, I was just so happy that we actually had like, you know, a playoff win. Cause I haven't seen it really for most of my lifetime, but I remember when I was a little kid as a little kid, man, we had a, when I was growing up when we had Bernie CO's are I remember that? I mean, they used to have a song about that guy. It'd be, it would go. Was there any
Speaker 3:Bernie Oh, Bay Bay super bowl. Ironer what year was that? 88
Speaker 2:Fricking team had a song like it wasn't just the Chicago bears. Cause I was watching something in like the LA Lakers had a team about the LA leakers, had a song about don't do drugs. I remember that like,
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Like that. That's your song, man. That's that's not no bueno, not good.
Speaker 2:So let me ask you this what's up club.
Speaker 3:So, you know, I think the best way to, to describe up glove is that you can get a premium Cabrita glove with an unparalleled experience. And I say that because you know, anyone can make a cloth, right? You, you can, you can make some improvements here. There in our glove is different than a lot of gloves because we have a mesh, we have a mesh backing, so it's breathable. Um, and it doesn't get as crusty and things like that. But with, without glove, it's more than just the glove. It's also just about your overall experience as a customer. And like, I'll give you an example. There's so many times like I have a couple of support. People who handle all our tickets for up glove and I always tell them like you needed it. Even on these emails that you guys are sending out, you have to make these people feel like valued too many times. When you deal with customer service. People like oftentimes you're frustrated, you're annoyed, et cetera. Well with us because we have members, right? These are people. We have people who have never left us. So we've been in year four, we've been in business now for almost three years. And we have people who have been members those whole, all those years. And a big reason why, if you even go on our upper glove.com, you look at the reviews, you'll see people commenting about like how fast, you know, like our customer services back to you. Hey, you know, I needed this change. It was my fault. They, they, they worked with me, things like that that happens. And there's millions of things that come up that you just don't realize. And, um, I think that's the difference. Like anyone can sell a golf glove, but can you actually provide like a valuable experience? Um, and I think that's the one thing that we really try to do besides providing a players glove for half the price.
Speaker 2:So let's go back in time real quick when like, how'd you even start up? Like I know, you know, in case you, I guess, I guess in one sentence, describe what upper glove is.
Speaker 3:It's ALK glove is basically a player's golf club for about half the price
Speaker 2:It's on subscription. Right? Yup.
Speaker 3:And that's where that, that unparalleled experience comes in. Uh, when you talk about when you're just buying a glove from else.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So like when you first started up, like what kind of gave you the idea to like do something like that? That no one else. I mean, I don't really know of anyone.
Speaker 3:Yeah. There's really not anyone that does it. And, and here, here, here's what it was. There was two problems, uh, that I wanted to solve when I started up glove and it really, it just started with me. So I would play at my buddies club quite a bit, or I would play at a nice course. And every time I did, I always wanted like a nice glove, right? Like you're playing this expense, of course, like, you know, you want to have a good golf glove. You don't want to be playing with this crusty old glove and have your, your clubs, uh, you know, slip in your grip and whatnot. So it was 20, it was 25 bucks to, I used to play Titlest PERMA SOF. That was, uh, that's what I would play. It was twenty-five bucks for title is premise off at the pro shop. Um, and that, and honestly that was pretty consistent with most, most places only have between 20 to$25 probably. Right. So, um, I would always forget to buy a glove. You know what I mean? Like I would just forget, like, you don't really think about it until you show up at the course. And then you're like, Oh crap. I'm, I'm playing today and we're playing a match and I want to play, wow. I want a fresh flow. And uh, so essentially I would always be shelling out, you know, like$25 for a glove. So originally what I did was, is I really just wanted to buy a bunch of gloves for myself, really. Like that's basically what I was doing. I wasn't even thinking at this point in time about the business. And so I searched all over. I tried a bunch of different budget gloves. Well, once you start playing with a thin soft Cabrita glove, it's really hot and not every Cabrita glove is the same. They're just not, there's some that are thicker. And once they get a little bit, uh, moist and whatnot, like they're going to, they're going to feel like a brick, uh, and, and like your next time out and the grip isn't as well. It's not as tacky as like a thin soft credit glove. So that's what I was looking for. I tried a bunch of different budget places. I couldn't find it. Then I just started, I originally started on Alibaba and I was looking on Alibaba and I just wanted to buy like 50 gloves for myself. That's all I wanted to do. Right. And it was, it was, I had the worst headache dealing with Alibaba, just like trying to communicate with people. It was awful. So finally I said, okay, if I'm having the same problems where I can't find a glove, that is a, a soft fin, great feeling of breaded glove. And I always forget about buying and glove. And then when I need one, I get ripped off at the pro shop. I started digging my feet in the sand and said, let me see if I can solve this. And that's when I really just started searching the globe, um, for someone who can I design the glove. So I needed someone to, yeah. So we didn't just slap a logo on a glove. I actually designed the glove. And then, uh, we went through prototypes and went through multiple manufacturers of, Hey, here's what the, here's the glove that I need, send it to me. Right. And then going through that process probably took almost a year just doing that of going through dozens of manufacturers. Uh, and I searched like everywhere. Like when I say I searched the globe, I mean, I searched, I searched the Glo. Uh, and luckily I found a great manufacturer who works with some big brands. I didn't know that, uh, I just kinda got lucky out of a persistence and the, the, the communication and all that stuff was just so good with them and I was able to land them. And then, uh, that's really, when up gloves started to kick off. So what year was that? So we started shipping like two years and seven months ago. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. Nope, Nope. So almost three years that we've been shipping and then we've been in business probably about another 12 to 14 months before that, but that was all really just figuring it out operations and working with the prototype and, you know, cause there's back and forth going on on that and getting feedback from golfers and they're all that good.
Speaker 2:Right? Like, like making sure it's just right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. I mean always all the time, even, even now we, we, we still look to refine on the type of mash. There's different types of mesh that you could use, um, different underlings that you could use to reduce friction, uh, on your hands and all that stuff. So, um, yeah, we're always playing around with, um, to see what's going to work the best and keep costs down for our golfers.
Speaker 2:So, I mean, is your background in call or do you just like, were you a pro before you did
Speaker 3:This? No, no, no, man. I was just another
Speaker 2:Dude like me, like likes to play golf and
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I kinda got the bug in college and then what's, that
Speaker 2:That's happened to me too. Like I had to stop mine more, more of a bug, you know, as a kid, I was like, I loved it. And I was, I was okay. But as in college I was like, Oh yeah,
Speaker 3:Yeah. And then I moved down to Tampa and I stopped playing and then, uh, I picked it back up and then I got the bug again, like really bad. And um, yeah, I just, I just love the game man. There's, there's basically nothing I'd rather do than to grab my buddies and hit the course. Like, I mean, that's like, if I can just do that every day, I'd be a happy guy. So is above your full-time gig? Yup. 100%. This is all, this is, this is this, this is, uh, this is my little baby and we've grown it enough where, um, this is all that I concentrate on as up glove.
Speaker 2:So what did you do before you started?
Speaker 3:So before I started up glove, I was in finance. Um, I was in investments. I worked that for probably what, 16, 17 years. Yeah. I mean, I was a registered principal, so series 24, if anyone knows what that is. Um, I ran a branch office in Tampa. I had a division under me. Um, yeah. So that's basically, that was my whole career prior to, to uplift.
Speaker 2:So you just kind of getting burned out, I'm assuming. And you're like, I want to start a company and then the company started and then all of a sudden, like, you're like, Holy crap, this actually, I can actually do this full time, which is like, everyone's dream. Right, right. Everyone has a side gig. If you don't have a side gig, you're full of. And we all do somehow. Right. Or we want it and it's like, actually be able to go from your side thing, make it your full time. That's a huge leap.
Speaker 3:So, um, right. So yeah, I started up glove when I was, when I was still, you know, with, with the company. But yeah, I think, I think the big thing was I always had like an entrepreneurial spirit, like I always did. And I I've been dabbling in businesses. Um, like I've started a couple of small businesses and I was always just kind of in that sphere. And then, you know, I Al obviously I have a passion for golf and I think what really hit home with me to take the plunge and upper glove was those problems that I had of not having a glove when I need one. And then actually having a, like a player's glove for where I didn't have to spend$25. I knew other people had those. And once I started surveying people, I was like, you know what? I can do this. And, uh, with the knowledge that I had of starting previous companies and businesses and whatnot, I essentially kind of built like a little bit of a following. And then I knew when I launched up glove, like I was going to have like a pretty decent membership right off the bat. And plus when we first started up gloves, the pricing that people got their membership on is insane. Anyone who stopped that, you know, they're like kicking themselves in the foot because you locked them in like, yeah. So we, we gave them like a founder's price, you know what I mean? So, um, and, and
Speaker 2:Yeah, do that where they actually honor the pricing on a loyal, like a lot. I sometimes don't do that. And I'm like, well, that's a fast way of losing a customer. Right? Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, there's some people who, like I said, we've had people from the very beginning, um, some, some who get gloves every single month, like from the, from the very beginning, almost three years ago, until now they've never stopped. And obviously a big reason, like our pricing is ultra competitive and we make, you know, a great glove.
Speaker 2:You do. I mean, I've had them, right. Like I'm like Tice Evolus right. I'm like, I'm not just a member. I commercial. I remember what I was like. He had like types of all the hold, the diners club. Um, so you started two and a half years ago. So how big is your team? It's just like only a couple of people, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So there there's four of us. There's four of us. So we have, I have a, I have a couple of shifting people and I have a couple of people who do support. So I have four there's five of us. I have four people, but you know, it's not, full-time, you know, uh, work. And the great thing is a lot of our stuff, besides the sh we do all of our own shipping and that's part of the reason why we can be so competitive with price. So we don't, we don't have like a third party logistics company. Yeah. So we actually do it. So we have our own storage facility and I have a couple of people that handle all the shipping warehouse. Yeah. It's not like a storage place, right? Yeah. Yeah. So
Speaker 2:I have the storage place and I was like, Oh, I can see like, sitting outside, like knowing that, but I'm like, you mean a warehouse, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah. And so we have our shipping people can actually, we have a very like, flexible like scheduling. So the main thing is we only ship once a month. It's on the 15th, as long as we're getting everything done before, then, then they're allowed that. I mean, they pretty much go there when they need to. Or if I say, Hey, we have a, we were, we're getting stocked up this week and we need to start doing some of the packing. And if we get returns, like if someone needs a new size, uh, and we, and we, the first resizing is on us. They don't even pay for that. Like we pay for them to ship it back and then we pay to ship it back out to them. Um, so if we need someone to go there, I just let them know. It's all automated. We get like an update from the system that says, Hey, you have a package. And then we just, we go ahead and, uh, pick up the package and, and, uh, do the, do the returns and whatnot. And then even with my support people, you know, I tell them not to work the weekends, but you know, they, they do anyway. So even like, I always tell people, like, if you don't get a response, uh, like we've never had a ticket, um, go over 24 hours. And I always say, but let me leave a caveat there. If it's, if it's on the weekend, they're not supposed to be responding, but they do anyways. But yeah. So it goes back to that experience again, that I was telling you about like, Hey, like we have people all the time, like, Hey, I need a new size. Uh, I'm going to go ahead and send this back to you. And I'm like, Oh no, no, no, no. We pay for that. Uh, and they're like, what? But you know what I mean? Um,
Speaker 2:You got to honor it, like, that's, it that's a thing. Right? Like people
Speaker 4:Appreciate that. You know? It's like, I don't know. It's like, it's like when somebody sends an order, a return order in right. It doesn't fit them or it's some drawing with it. It's like, just do the right thing.
Speaker 3:Right. Well, I think that's well said and we're in it for the long game. So I don't, you know, our company doesn't make money by selling, you know, one order to someone. Right. Like, right, exactly. So like I said, we've had some of our founding members who are still with us who have ordered every single month. And so we're in it for the long game. So I know if we take care of our customer, right. Like if we're doing everything that we're supposed to do and they get quick response times when they, when they contact us, if they have an issue, we take care of it. Uh, you know, if they need a new size or whatever, we have people who say, Hey, it's cold. I want one left and one, right. Can you do that? We take care of it. So
Speaker 4:Really want like they belong. Right? Like, that's the key. It's like, if you're a part of it, here's a thing like that Myers my 2 cents about subscription services. There's a lot of them out there now. Right. I mean, there's not a lot, there was a lot, like two years ago now they're kind of like going away, especially golf ones. There's a couple of them. We all know which ones there are and they're, you know, they're cool. But it's like, if you're going to subscribe to something, then you really need to like, be, feel like you belong to it. Not like, Oh, I'm just paying you money for stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Right. 100% man. And, uh, so that's why we have to do like these things and create like, you know, somewhat of a memorable experience for the customer, because we know if we take care of them, then they're going to go ahead and take care of us in return. So like, even our packaging, I feel like by the way, we're going to be coming out with the white packaging for people. But like, we have, uh, you know, we have like, we have our nice mailers. Like these things are like thick. Like we just didn't throw them in some like unbranded, like crappy mailer, you know? Like we went with premium mailers, even our thank you cards. I mean, they're like thick, you know what I mean? Like, so everything we do is to try to like, Hey, you're, you're part of something special here. You're going to be treated like, you know, someone's special.
Speaker 4:Yeah. You are. That's awesome. Right. That's, that's the real, it's not, that's a real different differentiator. Right? It's not like Bobo. Like I could go start a glove company and I could do the same thing as Shawn's doing. But if I don't do those things, I'll make people feel important. I'll never sell one glove because people are like, why am I paying you?
Speaker 3:Yeah. That's, that's really, the thing is like, you know, like you, you have to, you really have to really focus on your customer experience.
Speaker 4:That's kind of the problem in golf anyways, with the big brands, they don't give a. They don't care. Like I talk, I was talking to Damon on my team about this. And like, he's like, he's, he's ordered clubs before, like he gets fitted for the club, right. This like couple of years ago, he ordered the clubs. If clubs come in the mail and specification that it was supposed to come and they were completely wrong. Every single club was wrong. And you're like, why are they wrong? Like, I got measured. Like, you know, people don't, they don't think that we're going to check your stuff, you know? Right.
Speaker 3:Well then like how do, how do people, like, you know, like a lot of companies, when you call them or you email them and you have an issue, there's no like empathy of like the situation. It's just kind of like, they treat you like a number, you know what I mean? And they don't treat you like this individual member, um, or customer, uh, and what your experience was like, they treat you as, Oh, I have to handle this customer service ticket number. And that's, that's really the, the, the leverage that we have as being like a small, nimble team, um, is like, Hey, we can actually be a little bit more personalized on how we handle things. Uh, and we're not looking at you as a number we're looking at you as like, Oh, we always feel like the ups, glove family. We say the upper glove. We're looking at you as an upper Glover. That's what we call people who are members of clovers. Uh you're. You're not just another, uh, sail number, uh, two.
Speaker 4:Yeah. You mean something to us? Like, that's it, that's it, man.
Speaker 3:That's that is the, the differentiator right there besides obviously, you know, you're almost selling like a commodity with, with golf gloves and our pricing is super competitive, um, for the type of glove that we sell. Like, I mean, it's, you really can't find a glove like ours that has that thin leather, um, and the breathable backing and things like that, uh, at our price. But you're, you have to sign up for the membership in order to get that. Um, and in order to keep those people, we have to be, we have to treat them, um, you know, and make sure that their experiences pleasurable the whole way from the time that they order to the time that they get the glove. And then inevitably at some point there, there's going to be a time where they might have to contact us. We want to make sure, like, they feel like, wow, I'm happy. Like I'm with them.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Like your part, you actually care about them 100% and that's, what's so cool. So I guess, like how many models do you guys have? How many, I'm sorry, what was that models like? Do you have multiple models or is it like, like you have your core corporate or glove?
Speaker 3:So that's a good question. So right now we pretty much, we only have like white and gray and we only may, you know, the one, the one glove, um, and part of the reason on doing that was, and, you know, w we're looking at potentially having a ladies line, we do, we do have ladies play our glove, but we gotta make sure because we offer the membership. And because when we order gloves, I mean, it's w it's by thousands and thousands of blobs. So we need to make sure that we have the demand for that. But we have been getting more and more women who have been asking us, um, about the, uh, about up glove. And they have, um, if we have a women's line, so we're looking at that, but currently right now, we only make the one glove in white and gray. And then we have like every size, even cadet sizes, but we could look at offering another line down the road, but at the same point, like, it's like, I always remembered this, like, you know, like through business and everything like that, if you're going to do something you want to do at least one thing and do it very, very well. And it took us a while to craft the glove and the prototype. And, you know, now build like this experience and everything like that. And I don't want to spread ourselves too thin where we start, it's easy to start going down that path that I want to do this. I want to do this. I'm going to do this. And then you forget about the core reason why you started the whole thing to begin with, like that shiny new object syndrome, you know? So I think it will be a little wild Paul before we actually,
Speaker 4:I would diversify that. Y you know what I mean? Like you want to be very good at one thing and then ranch.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. So I think, you know, especially with the glove, just because there's a lot involved in that and at the quantities that we order it, that would be like a really, really huge investment. And, you know, if you look at the reviews on our site, we are, we already get like great reviews on the current glove that we have. Um, so I think it's about building that
Speaker 4:Maybe we can do is like a ladies' version, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. 100% we're looking at, we're definitely looking into looking into the ladies version and then we don't sell a double XL. And, uh, we, we, we do get some, uh, some folks reaching out for like the double XL gloves.
Speaker 4:Yeah. But then you're, that's the problem, all kinds of apparel, right? Like the person, the person has a double XL. It's like, dude, now they're hard to get. I mean, it's like the special order.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's, it's, it's making sure you just have enough demand for us from a subscription standpoint to make sure that like, it's, it's worth it because it's not so much like getting that size for us, for us, it's going to be, well, if I order these, I just can't order 10 of them. Right. And if I order, let's say, let's say I put an order in for gloves and I'm ordering 10,000 gloves. If I'm, if I get a thousand of those, that means I'm taking away a thousand from other sizes that I know are going to go rapidly. So
Speaker 4:I understand inventory that
Speaker 3:You got it, you got it. So it's just making sure we're smart about that. And, um, and when we do have that demand, then we can capitalize on it.
Speaker 4:So like, what were the biggest obstacles that you've had to overcome?
Speaker 3:I would say so initially, and we kind of touched on it a little bit, was the finding a manufacturer that you can trust and feel good about when you're getting ready to start like this company. So like anyone who's thinking about like, Hey, I want to start, you know, a clothing line or I want to start, you know, any kind of thing that, where it needs to be manufactured in may having, like, if you're gonna put all that money, time, effort, all those things in place, like you have to feel really solid about who your manufacturer is and the partnership like that you guys have. So that was probably the biggest thing at least to say, to get to the point where you say, all right, I'm in and I can make this happen. Then I think it comes back to having systems in place. So for us in our membership, one of the big things that I wanted was the ability for people to pause. So yeah, if you're
Speaker 4:The biggest, scary thing, right. You still have to, it doesn't matter what you're selling. If you're not out for, uh, uh, I mean, there's a golf, it's so seasonal, right? Like you can get hosed, you know, and be like, I'm not golfing for four or five months. That's, that's amazing. Right.
Speaker 3:And then, and then what would they do? They would just cancel
Speaker 4:And they would never come back. They wouldn't come down at time to get that person to join and then you've lost it. You'll never get it back. Right.
Speaker 3:So like the ability for them to pause is like, that was like one of the big things that I wanted. Cause I was just thinking of myself and John. And even though I'm in Tampa, Florida, and I can play year round, I'm originally from Ohio. So I know like, you know, you're lucky if you get like four or five months out of the year that are like decent. So I wanted to make it so, Hey, what are some systems that we need to get an order? So people could pause and be as flexible as possible. Um, so figuring all that stuff out from a tech side that was, you know, and then making sure everything works and all that, like, that's also like a huge like hurdle for, um, for some people. And obviously this business with a subscription business and inventory management, those things, those are all things that you really kind of have to solidify. Uh, and then I would tell everyone, like, whatever you think, like if you think you have everything, you know, kind of known, you'll be surprised. Like I didn't realize how many different kinds of types of tickets from our members they would send about, Hey, you know, I want, I want a different size for my friend next month. Can you do that? I want, so there's all these systems in place. If you want to provide that memorable experience, there's all these systems in place in order for you to take care of people that you have to kind of figure out as you go. Uh, and that, that will be like an ever kind of process. But I would say finding the manufacturer and trusting them and having a good relationship,
Speaker 4:You're spending a lot of money. Like, I'll be honest. Like I like that's one that kind of scares me a little bit is like, you can throw a lot of time and money and energy and you think, Oh, this is a good bang facture. And then you get their stuff in the mail and you're like, what the app. Right. And you've already spent that money. You're not getting it back, you know? Yeah. It's like this weird balance you have to do as an entrepreneur because especially in the early years, because you're like, you think the brand, the company you're buying from Mayer, maybe good. And you're hoping they are capital. And then all of a sudden you get the product and it's not what you want. And then now what, you know, like you don't get your money for that. I, no,
Speaker 3:I'll tell you what man. That's how I was first. I was, I was literally fearful, um, like, cause like getting the product, like, is it going to be, you know, what we talked about? Are they just gonna throw this stuff together? There, there are some things that you can do to kind of have checks and balances. There are different kinds of like standardization kind of, um, organizations where you can check if a company's a member of it that there's employee soft to make sure like, you know, you're not ordering from like, you know, a sweat shop and all this stuff. Like there's there's organizations. And I learned this as I went, Oh yeah, there's all these things that you can do to check. And if number and if your manufacturer is part of that kind of organization, then, then you can start to feel a little bit more confident. But even with all that in place, I was, I was scared when I did my first big order, you know, cause we're talking, you know, tens of thousands of dollars that you're, that you're putting on the line here and you know, you're importing it and I'll tell you a funny story about importing. I got really lucky on importing, but like all that it is it's, it's a scary, scary thing. And that's, you know, that's the risk versus reward, right? Like if you're taking on these extra risks to, you know, um, build a company and whatnot, well hopefully you get rewarded where, you know, you're not working the nine to five and you're the boss,
Speaker 4:This question to you, when you get your shipments in, are they coming by air or they come by sea air. Why not see
Speaker 3:Time? That real time?
Speaker 4:Cause I'm like worried about going. See, because I'm like, well I know they say, Oh it's 25 to 40 days receipt. I'm like, that's.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, that, that, that's basically, that's pretty much the time that I always get quoted because I don't know like,
Speaker 4:Well it's a month and a half. I mean, I'm not really pushing it, whatever, you know, it takes 80 days or 90 days or is it gonna get stuck in port? Like that's something I worry too. Like if they ship it and it goes into LA, did it get stuck there until it gets shipped to my house? You know?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. There's, there's a lot of things, you know, if you, if you ship like part of it's on pricing, like there's a certain threshold that you have to go over a material that you're ordering before. It really becomes like a customs kind of, um, thing where they're kind of sticklers on stuff. If it's some small order. Yeah. And then, um, but yeah, it will go to, it will go through customs on if you use someone like ups or FedEx, a lot of times they handle all of that stuff and then you'll usually pay like a fee or you can have your own importer. Um, and that costs money. Uh, and then you just have to figure out by you paying the importer and the shipping and all that stuff. Is it going to be a better deal versus, you know, paying for ups, FedEx? I got super lucky with my guide. When I, when I did my first shipment into the States, I was calling around and no idea what I was doing. I was calling around all these places and they kept, everyone was so busy. They couldn't even handle it. And everyone kept referring me to this guy. They were like, Oh, you need to go talk to this guy. You know, we're busy right now. Uh, I was like, okay. So I talked to this guy and it was like the craziest, like I felt like I was like in a movie, almost this guy, I go to his little, his, his little shop. Right. And he has like a, like, it almost looks like more of like a industrial kind of building. There's like no windows. He has like a big, huge, like garage warehouse, place, the house, everything. I go there and tell the guy he's like, listen. He's like, we, I only accept cash. I only do cashier. And he's like, today's your lucky day? He's like, cause I'm going to show you exactly how all this works. This guy literally takes me in to where your work customs is at the, at the airport station walks in, tells me all these people like, so he's basically saying everyone through customs, like all the airlines they're pretty much like all together. Except I think for like Delta, Delta is like separate. Like, and he's like telling me how it all works. And he's like, these people hate each other and he's talking like right in front of them, all the people who are like on the docks, loading stuff, he knows all of them. So he explained to me the whole process on how everything works. And then I was like, well, what if I don't have enough room to store this? And he's like, Hey, you're with me now. He's like, I'll show. He's like, I'll store everything for you. And then when you need it, you'd come see me. I'm like, well, what's that? And he's like, no, it doesn't cost you anything. You're with me now. I was like, dude, this is crazy. The guy just gave me like this break class on importing. Um, and uh, it was just phenomenal. Like the guy totally took care of him.
Speaker 4:I'm trying to picture this in my head. Right. Cause like, if you try to do shipping, shipping by sea, by air, like no. It's like three times the price, right? Yeah. For real is it is uh, if you do buy, see, they say, Oh, it takes twice as long, but it's like a third of the price. And you're like, I'll do that one. But I'm wondering then as it comes into port, how fast will it take to get, you know, you after that gets here. But um, I'm assuming it's probably all part of the process.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's fast. It's fast. And you can't import it yourself. Like you need to go through an agent there's there's specific software that you need to have that. Um, I think when I went, because I was like, why can't I just, I went to the customs place initially. It was like, how come I can't import this myself? And they're like, Oh, well there's special software that you need to have. And it costs,
Speaker 4:Let me ask this, like if you buy it. So like what happens when you buy it? So you buy it from your company. Right. And then they do it here by plane. And then your importer guy takes care of it and sends it to you. It's ours.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yup. He handles, he handles everything. He imports it and then I tell him to drop it off. Yeah. So it's all handled. It's all handled by him.
Speaker 4:It gets dropped off at your place.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Adult glove. Yup. You got it.
Speaker 4:You don't even know. Or I don't know. Yeah.
Speaker 3:No, that's what I had to look. That's what I had to learn.
Speaker 4:I think it's fascinating. You know, people think, Oh, I'll just go buy some stuff. I'm going to sell it. It's like,
Speaker 3:Oh no, no, no, no. It's, it's a lot. It's a lot more difficult than that. You know? And luckily I learned that process from that guy kind of showed me everything and I learned how fast they can actually clear through customs and all of that stuff. So the timing and everything. But yeah. I mean the first time I did it, like I was just going to try to import it myself and they're like, Oh no, you can't do that. Like I went to the customs place and they were like, no, you can't do that. I'm like, what do you mean? I can't do that. And then my stuff, I can't, I bring it in here. They're like, no, no, it don't work like that. So yeah, that's a learning experience that I had to go through. Um, but now that I know how it works and everything like that, um,
Speaker 4:Oh, steer by airplane. So it doesn't matter if it comes by airplane or by seats.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But like I said, if you go through, you can go through ups or FedEx, I saved money by not going through them. But if it, if it's comparable, there's been times where the pricing has been comparable and I've just decided to pay the extra, you know, whatever it is, ups or FedEx, don't worry about it. They'll handle all of that. And then, um, you know, I have an account with them and whatnot. So if there's, there's still fees and port fees and all that stuff that you have to pay, because that gets all handled through that. Yeah.
Speaker 4:By airplane, that's not through FedEx or whatever, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That goes through like air cargo. And then, uh, depending on your airline, like I said, and then it gets, that's where your that's where your importer we'll go ahead and handle that though.
Speaker 4:Right. Would it be cheaper for you, but it would take fricking forever. Your Florida, PA.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It would take, it would take, uh, it takes longer. And um, really for us, you, if you're not saving because of the quantity we order, you're not, we're not really saving too much money when you look at it like per glove, you know what I mean? So we're kind of getting into nickels and dimes when you're talking about how many hours, right. And you're, and you're wasting days to do get all that. I'd rather just be done.
Speaker 4:That's crazy. Mean all the things that you have to,
Speaker 3:And that light, that light, that golfer in that cactus light, that, that thing is sending is sweet. I love it. I got to get myself one of the Amazon
Speaker 4:They're like 30 bucks.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I gotta, I gotta, I gotta snag. Ah, I got to snag one of those up. I'll sell to you. Do I get a discount?
Speaker 4:Sean's a straight up guy. Like he'll share here's everything. Like he and I, like, we hit it off right away. We've done. Like I said, last stuff together over the last year. I think it's probably least, well, I think I started my Christmas pond. I mean, I'm clubs legit. Right. And there's no one else doing this. And actually you can see like he cares, like there's very little risk. Right. So if you're looking for like a glove that, you know, a good glove, that's an accum, you know, monthly, uh, if you're playing a lot of golf. Perfect. Um, and if, and if there's like, like you said before, if it's winter and you're not able to play or whatever, you need to pause, for whatever reason you can pause it. Like it's super flexible. And it's, I mean, it's a good glove and the price point, like what are the price points are?
Speaker 3:So yeah, so we have monthly and quarterly shipments, right? So you can get monthly or quarterly shipments and for two gloves, you're paying 10 bucks a glob and shipping's included. Yeah. So you're, you're, you're getting to a lot of through the price, right? So you're getting two gloves for 20 bucks. And then if you, if you get three gloves, you're paying less than that. You're paying like$9 and you know, like 30 cents, it's 27, 27, 99, you're getting three gloves. And again, you can get monthly or quarterly. You can pause, you know, when you need to, uh, and shipping is included. And then the biggest thing is people say, Oh, well, I was worried about like, if I get the wrong size, don't worry about that. Cause your first size exchanges on us and we pay for it. So if we ship you a size and you say, you know what, it's too small or it's too big, that's fine. We pay, we send you a return label. You should have back. And then we set out the new size. And then if you don't love the glove, no problem. We'll pay for you to ship it back. And then, uh, we'll give you a full refund. You really, I really wanted to make it like a no brainer. And from a glove standpoint, it couldn't be more no-brainer than what we offer.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And I mean, so low risk, right? Like it's not like, you know, it's not like you have to, somebody, something subscription servers are so expensive.
Speaker 3:Yeah. They tie you in and everything like that, we don't that. And literally you could cancel yourself inside the dashboard. So it's not like, Oh my God, I don't want to have to go back and forth with them if I want to cancel no, go in there. And the bottom line is if, if you're not loving what we're doing, then cancel. Um, but the reality is, is like we get some people who were dead on, like I hate joining subscriptions. And now that they're a part of it. They're like, I love this. This was great. You know? So cause it's cause you, you control it. It's basically you get gloves when you want them. You know what I mean? That's essentially kind of what we do and we offer the subscription service because one, you don't have to worry about it. But two, we don't have to go back and forth advertising and trying to onboard a new client. You're already our client or customer. You're already a part of it. And go ahead and pause if you want some gloves, pause. If you don't need them.
Speaker 4:No, that's cool. Like this is really cool. So you guys, you have to be sure to check out, but what's your URL or what's your social too?
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's it's up glove.com. So U P G L O V e.com. And then most of our socials are under that as well. So, um, up glove on, on Instagram, a glove on Facebook and I think on Twitter, it's up underscore Ben glove because someone had up club. So I think it was like some boxing thing or something.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And it's like, I don't even know how to like change that too, you know? Like how do you get? And like, or somebody will do it and then it's like, don't even use it. And you're like, I want that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And then real quick, I mean, I showed you guys the glob, but this is, this is the, this is the glove and the logo. This is the soft top grade Cabrita and here's like the, the packaging that you guys would get. So yeah. I mean, it's, it's a great glove. Like I said, it's a play, it's a true players glove. It's not a thick glove. It's a Finn soft topgrade Cabretta glove. And I'll tell you this, our manufacturer, I said works with some pretty big brands and I told him,
Speaker 4:Oh man, like, you know, yeah, I'm just kidding. Like screwed really.
Speaker 3:W what I, what I asked them, I, when I told them I wanted, uh, you know, top gray, because it comes in different grades. They're like, well, they're like, do you know, like most big brands only use, you know, B grade. And I was like, ah, I want, I want to be able to market it as top, top grade. I know there's tons of companies out there that are marketing Tom Grady,
Speaker 4:90%. I don't even know, like AAA or something like that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Each company kind of has its own like range. And to be honest with you, the top grade versus mid grade, there's not a huge difference, but there's a slight difference in feel
Speaker 4:If you're like, comparising comparing them. But like you and me would not know that you would have to play with
Speaker 3:Them for a while. You'd have to play with them kind of for a while. And you'd probably feel like a little bit of a softness difference between the two you gotta be like, yeah. Hello Muffy. Yeah, you do. You do. But the good thing is, is like from a cost standpoint, there's really not a huge, like bumping costs. And it's like, yeah. And it's like rip a break. Right. So it could be like a hundred percent best buy with the whole wide world. But if you don't hold your club, right. Or you do something stupid or, you know, it's done. Yeah. Well, especially on, especially with a thin glove like ours, but the reason why we decided to pay the extra money for the top grade is so per glove, it wasn't like a huge cost difference and allows us to tell people in market like, Hey, you're getting a top grade Cabrita glove. So, and there's plenty of companies out there who are advertising top grade and they are not tough grade, but they continue to kind of use that term. That's cool. So you guys be sure to check out up glove they're legit. They're cool. They stand behind their product and yeah. You know, I like my glove. Hey man, Paul, I appreciate you having us on the show, man. This was awesome. And yeah. If anyone has any questions, they can email us too@supportatupglove.com or Sean and Sean, we'll email you back and say, what can I help you with? Yeah, I'll be, I'll definitely, I'll definitely be replying to some of them for sure. Cool, man. Well, thank you so much for being on the show and uh, yeah, appreciate it. Awesome, Paul, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to another episode of behind the golf bread podcast. You're going to beat me like 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're winning, stay out of the beach and see you on the green.