How many hats a year are you guys
selling and everything?
>> Roughly between like 750 to 1.5 million
hats.
>> Over a million hats a year. That makes
it an 8 figureure business.
>> Basically me and my dad, we started it
in his backyard in a little shop. Couple
years after that, I ended up just buying
them out. Welcome back to another
episode of the M19 podcast. Today we are
at the beautiful Big Cedar Lodge playing
Payne's Valley and a bunch of other
courses. And I have got an amazing
member of M19. Today we've got Tyler
Mulestein and he is the owner of Zapped
Headwear. I'm actually wearing one of
their hats right now that we've gotten
um our M19 logo on and we're going to
talk about how he built his business and
what it looks like to be in the hat
game. What's up, dude? How's it going?
>> It's good, man. Uh what do you think of
the resort so far?
>> It was awesome. We got out and played
Mountaintop last night. It was a lot of
fun.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> It was It was a lot hotter than I was
expecting.
>> I know. Even at night, even in the
morning, it's hot. Yeah, it's that uh
humidity. I'm not used to that being out
in Utah.
>> No, no, we got all the dryness in Utah
and Vegas and everything else. But um
dude, give us a rundown of your company
and what you guys do.
>> Yeah. So, uh Zap Headwear, we just offer
a lot of different hats. Uh mainly like
just super high quality premium hats,
but not necessarily like a hat that's
going to be super expensive. It's got
just enough features that if you were to
want like a really nice hat for your
company, but not spend $40, $50 for
those those hats, then you know, in a
wholesale market, you'll
>> Yeah.
>> You'll love these. So,
>> yeah. So, you guys would if like the
super high-end hats are, let's just call
them A tier, you guys are probably like
B+.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Yeah. And I I can make the A tier, too.
We have a few uh new uh new hats called
the Elite models, and they're they're a
lot nicer. They're like the stretch fit.
They're still perforated. They have like
a what's called a TPU clasp, so it's
really bendable. It's It's different
than like a snapback, but it looks like
a snapback.
>> Yeah.
>> And that's a that's a more premium one.
It's starting to It's a little more
expensive, but um then we have like the
Blackhawk and Osprey is what we call
them. Uh all the models that we have are
like military style. So I was in the
Marines, so I I just kind of name
everything something around the
military. Uh this one's called the
bomber.
I'm wearing.
>> So, what does zap mean? Is that a
military term?
>> No, we're just going to zap you at all.
>> Shoot you.
>> Basically, me and my dad, we started it
in his backyard in a little shop.
>> Uhhuh.
>> And uh we had like a laser engraver and
we'd always just say like, "Let's go zap
some hats."
>> Okay.
>> And so it just kind of stuck from there.
>> Yeah. How long ago was that?
>> That's been six, seven years. Yeah.
>> Okay. So, seven years ago you start the
company. Like where's the company at
today? Like what's the revenue look
like? How many hats you guys sell in a
year? Like how's that?
>> Yeah, so it's grown like crazy. We
started out just doing custom hats only,
like leather patches and embroidery and
whatnot. And uh we were getting so many
embroidery shops and decorating uh shops
reaching out like, "Hey, I want to I
want to buy these." And we're like,
"You're our competitors, you know, it's
kind of weird."
>> Yeah.
>> And that's like the best thing we've
ever done was transition to selling to
our competitors and like becoming
friends with our competitors. So now
it's like, okay, we still do the custom
hats, but I'm I'm trying to push it to
those uh little local shops, more like
the actual shops that, you know, someone
in another city would use rather than
using us all the time. So
>> the blank market for us has been
awesome.
>> Yeah. So what how many hats a year are
you guys selling and everything?
>> Uh roughly between like 750 to 1.5
million hats.
>> Wow. So over a million hats a year. I
mean that that makes it an eight
figureure business. Uh like what's the
average wholesale hat end up costing
people? Because a lot of people have no
idea. They've never bought custom hats
or, you know, hats for their own use.
Like what are you typically going to
spend if you want to go make your own
business hat?
>> Uh it really kind of depends. We have
different tiers. So for like a business,
you're probably going to spend like $15
for a custom hat like all said and done.
If you're ordering like a hundred
>> Yeah. Um,
>> that's the blank.
>> No, that's fully embroidered.
>> That's like a fully custo. That's about
what you should spend. Like if you're
getting like a hundred maybe like a more
premium style like these, um, 18 would
be like the top end. But like a just
like a trucker style normal hat should
be like no more than 15 for like a 100
plus,
>> right?
>> When you get into those smaller
companies that have 10 employees and 20
hats, you should probably be like an
embroidery shop should charge like 20
$25.
>> Yeah. Because you just don't have the
volume.
>> Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. So,
where do you guys want to take the
business? I mean, obviously, you're
selling over a million hats a year.
That's a a crazy amount of hats.
>> That's the goal.
>> So, we're mainly just in the West Coast.
I mean, we have some East Coast
customers, but I'm just trying to get
out into all the embroidery shops across
the US and let them offer the the hats
to the customers. The customers love the
hats. They every single time we get a
new dealer, a new a dealer is like an
embroidery shop or decorator. Uh they're
always like, "My customer told me about
this. My customer told me about this."
So
>> the the people are getting the hats and
they're liking it. It's just we're just
trying to expand more to the east coast
as well. So
>> yeah,
>> we have distributors in the in the west
and we're trying to right now we're
trying to get a distributor in the east
coast.
>> Got it. Yeah. So, like one of the the
way I got linked up with your guys hats
even before you became a member was um
one of our members, Austin, his name's
Austin Boyd at a live print shop. Shout
out to them. You know, they were one of
our very first members. He's in Vegas
where I'm at. And so, basically anything
I want a logo on, I just send him. So,
like this is a a Lululemon workout shirt
and I'm like, "Bro, throw the 19 on it,
whatever." But, you know, when we get
all these hats made for all of our
members and everything else, like we
have a new hat every event for our
members that I design and pick and
everything else. And um I always let him
just, you know, source it and make it
and everything else. And so whenever he
was presenting me options, it was always
like I'm like, I like that one. I wasn't
even really looking at price. Yeah.
>> And it'd be a zapped one and I just
liked the design. He's like, I love
those. I use those all the time for, you
know, other customers and things like
that. It's a really nice hat.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> A lot of other brands, especially when
it comes to like the the more high-end
models, they'll only offer three or four
colors.
>> Yeah.
>> A lot of times. And it's it's like how
do you choose where we'll we'll offer
like 40 50 colors and and get it's fun
that way, you know, like with the rope
hats that you're wearing right now.
Yeah.
>> With golf, we'll have probably 40 colors
of that exact style of hat. Yeah, I
really like the uh like this gray is
really nice and then you know the M19
turned out really good for the block.
But um dude, what's the logistics look
like to to print over a million hats a
year? Like how many employees you got?
What's the factory look like? I want to
know that.
>> So we have 18 employees. It's not it's
not too crazy.
>> Yeah, I would have thought more with
that many hats. Like how many are you
making a day in the factory?
>> Uh so it's not it's not like a factory
bas. It's overseas. Um, we're not making
the hats in house. We're we're sourcing
them. But, um, every day we probably
customize between 1 and 2,000 hats and
then we we send out 4,000 blank hats
every day probably.
>> So, you'll get them sourced overseas and
then you'll custom them in house.
>> Yeah. So, we'll do all the embroidery or
Got it.
>> or whatever patch or whatever looking
for. Yeah.
>> You guys know I love the game of golf
and that is why I started M19. It is a
golf mastermind for entrepreneurs who
are doing over seven figures in their
business and who want to go on bucket
list golf trips together. We already
have hundreds of members all across the
country and we've been to some of the
best courses in the world. Places like
Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, Bandon Dunes,
and many others. The course is the best
place to do deals, make great
relationships, and have fun. So go to
mastermind 19.com today.
>> So it only takes 18 people to take
orders, sales, fulfillment. That's uh
everyone's everyone's really busy right
now. Our the bottleneck tends to be
space.
>> Yeah. So
>> yeah, you got to store what [laughter]
50,000 hats at a time, 20,000.
>> About a half million.
>> You got to store half a million at a
time.
>> Yeah. So we're storing probably a
quarter million, but we have about a
half million on order all the time as
from the factory. So it's a it's always
a logistics nightmare just like, oh,
where am I going to put these when they
come in? And
>> yeah.
>> Yeah. Right now we're running out of
space. for actually building the
warehouse. Uh about three times bigger
than what we have. So,
>> how do you you know, being in like kind
of the physical goods space where you're
having to pre- purchase that many, how
do you guys manage cash flow
>> with inventory?
>> Yeah, that's that's a lot of fun. Yeah.
Um
>> we we do a line of credit, but we
typically just try and keep like a
threshold of of cash.
>> Yeah. Um, and we always try to keep like
a threshold of hats as well. It's it's
that's cash basically, you know.
>> Yeah.
>> Um,
>> yeah, it's not too hard though.
>> Okay, that's cool. So, yeah, because I
guess in your model uh people are buying
kind of like all the time and you're not
having to go spend money on like are you
guys even advertising?
>> Yeah, a little bit. But it it's mainly
just like the the dealers are the ones
that are really advertising trying to
sell them to their customers. You're
just trying to find more dealers who
will sell them for you.
>> Yeah. But we do some some Google ads and
things, too. Just
>> Yeah.
>> Because we do the custom site as well.
It's kind of weird because that's what
I'm saying. They're like our
competitors, but they're also our
customers.
>> Right. Right. Got it. So, to transition
a little bit, obviously we're here at
Payne's Valley. Uh, you know, you're
you're in a golf group for business
owners. Uh, what what made you want to
join M19?
Uh, I just I started golfing like only
like two years ago and love it. And
every time I golf, I want to be around
someone that's that's a business owner
just so I can talk to them and have fun
and relate to them more and
>> and uh
>> yeah, you're amazing at ads. I'll put it
that way. I still see ads after even
after I joined. I'm like, "All right."
>> Yeah.
>> Um but yeah, I I saw an M19 ad and
looked into it and submitted form and
here I am.
>> You're like, "All right, I'm in. All
right, I'm going to go to this."
>> Sold it even more. I was like in the ad
of like I swear I see that that's one of
our hats. That that makes me want to
join even more.
>> These guys are already customers of
ours. We might as well reciprocate.
>> That's funny. So what's your golf game
like now? Like why why'd you get into it
two years ago? What what forced you to?
Uh, I just had a business partner that
introduced me to it and and I fell in
love with it and wasn't I probably
started out, you know, 20 handicap like
anyone or or more and right now I'm
sitting at like a 9.4. So that's decent
game.
>> That's good for two years.
>> Yeah. Yesterday I I can't claim 94.
Yesterday I was nice and stiff from the
plane.
>> Yeah. And then just hopped straight onto
the par three.
>> Yeah. Start started with a birdie and
then it was like double every hole. Like
you got to kidding me. This is a par
three.
>> Yeah. Yeah. But
>> yeah, I'm I'm feeling confident about
the game now. And
>> there we go.
>> I'm looking forward to having lots of
fun out here.
>> Yeah. Were you guys at the um kickoff
night last night?
>> No, we we were at the Mountain Top and
we couldn't get back to like eight.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Getting done late. How was
Mountain Top? We played Top of the Rock.
>> Oh, it was awesome. It was beautiful.
>> Yeah.
>> Had a lot of fun out there.
>> Yeah, that one's like 13 holes, right?
>> Yeah. And it's a walking style, so it
was a little hot and and tiresome
walking that. But
>> yeah, for those who don't know, they got
three par three courses. Cliffhers is
like 18 holes. Mountaintop is 13. And
then we played Top of the Rock, which is
only nine, but they give you a cart
because the holes are like so spread
out.
>> Oh, really?
>> I don't know about uh Mountain Top, but
ours were like legit par 3es. I mean,
they had 200 yard holes and 150 yard
holes.
>> Mountain Top it like it it probably had
nine holes where they were 70 to 100
yards and then all of a sudden the last
>> four are like 200. You're like, "What is
going on here?"
>> They're all They're all really close,
though. Not Not a whole lot of travel,
luckily since it's walking only.
>> Yeah, that makes sense. What do you
think has made you successful in
business?
>> Uh, I think it's just like that that
drive to just do it. You know what I
mean? So, a lot of people, they have
that idea like, "Oh, I want to do a
business, whatever." But they never
actually just take the the reins and get
out and ride the horse. they they kind
of sputter around for
>> for years or even their whole lifetime
and then look back and never did it. I I
feel like I just if I get an idea I just
go after it and try and and fail most of
the time and sometimes I
>> it succeeds and it's like oh that was
you look back and it's like oh that was
awesome.
>> Yeah. So you said you started Zapped
Headwear in your garage with your dad.
How's it been working with family?
>> A couple years after that I ended up
just buying him out. Yeah,
>> we we moved out of out of that shop into
a new shop and my brother's actually the
general manager. So, there's still
family aspect of it, but but my dad's
out of the equation a little bit. And
>> it's been awesome working with family. I
like working with my brother. He's he's
a smart cookie. It's a younger older.
>> He's older. Okay. I'm the youngest in my
family. So, it's
>> Okay. And how old are you?
>> I'm 30.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> Got it.
>> So,
>> so my sister, she's younger than me.
She's about three and a half years. four
years younger and um she's my CFO
>> and so she manages all the money.
>> So I it's like who can you trust as a
CFO? And it's like well
>> I've known her quite a long time her
whole life.
>> That's how Kevin is. He'll manage the
orders and the bank and everything. So
it's like
>> that's perfect for me and I can trust
him and I know there's not going to be
something crazy going down or he's not
going to overspend. A lot of it's per
performance-based. So he's like, I want
to make as much money as possible as
well. So yeah, it's awesome.
>> So what what does your day-to-day look
like now as the owner? What like are you
are you in the owner seat? Are you the
CEO? What do you do on a daily basis
besides golf?
>> Yeah, I do I do a lot of golf and uh
[clears throat] I'd say on a daily basis
I mainly just worry about getting the
product in. We have such a high turnover
rate with our product. It just it comes
in and it goes out,
>> right? And uh so I'm just constantly
talking to manufacturers and and the
factories, making sure that we're
getting the product in. That's that's
like my number one thing.
>> Got it.
>> So
>> yeah. What do you do when there's issues
with delays and everything? Cuz I know
like I've sourced a bunch of crap from
China now, like building out, you know,
all the stuff we're doing with M19. Like
I'm I'm like I'm becoming like you now.
I'm like, dude, I'm like talking to
these manufacturers overseas and all
these different things. And uh it's not
the easiest, especially with like the
tariff situation and all this stuff
that's happened over the last year and a
half. Yeah, it it can get pretty uh
hectic. We haven't we've been lucky. We
haven't had like a whole lot of delays,
but um when we we have a lot of popular
models that it's almost near impossible
to put a number like on a hat or any
product really how many you actually
need. So you can do the forecast like oh
I sell 50,000 of this hat in 2 months or
3 months or whatever and you'll order a
little extra and but let's say you've
ordered 70,000 of that product now you
don't know the demand because you've
never had 70,000 in stock for people to
order and now all of a sudden the 70,000
is selling out so you got to order more
the next. Does that make sense?
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> It's it's it's tough to manage
especially when you have 400 variants.
>> Yeah. Do you think that you maybe have
too many SKs?
>> Yeah. Making it too complex.
>> Yeah. It's like the the Apple concept
[snorts] where you kind Oh, Yep. And
that's
>> it's it's Do you want to be a a big
Richardson style company where you have
every last style or do you just want to
offer a few things and that's something
in my head that I've kind of wrestled
with the past couple years.
>> Yeah. Because I bet you it's probably
8020 rule. If you look at your best
sellers,
>> it's probably 20% of your SKS.
>> It's true. For sure.
>> Yeah. But then it's hard too because you
have these customers or these dealers
that have ordered a specific color for
years that maybe isn't the most popular.
And if you discontinue it, you're kind
of cut that dealer off.
>> So, and I've I've had to do that with
some. It's it's like, "Oh, this camo's
ugly. I can't It doesn't sell worth the
crap." But then there's always one or
two. They're
>> like, "We love it."
>> Yeah. There's always one or two. Can you
can you make this again? And like,
"Well, how many do you need?"
>> Yeah.
>> We can see.
>> They're like, "We need 20." You're like,
"Dude." [laughter]
So, that brings up a point. It's like
these [clears throat]
>> if someone wants a completely custom
color, like they have this great idea.
We do that all the time. We do the the
>> um we call it private label. So,
>> we can put their labels on and
everything and
>> yeah,
>> but yeah, it's 300 for those. But you
know what you're getting at that point,
you know, like
>> see our quality. We're not going to give
you a different manufacturer or
something. You're going to get the
perfect quality. So,
>> yeah, it's cool. We've had um ever since
I started M19, you know, I've now gotten
to meet many of these suppliers and some
of them have joined as members and other
things and or or partners like Vessel
Bags has been a great partner and so you
know every time a member joins they get
a custom Vessel bag and now they told us
we became their biggest custom bag buyer
really
>> and I'm like really and they're like
yeah I mean like we obviously sell tons
of regular bags to pro shops and
>> we but you guys custom everyone with the
name, the logo, and all this stuff.
Like, you're the biggest custom buyer.
>> That's awesome.
>> I was like, "All right, so like what are
we going to do now?" You know, like
we've proven ourselves. And they're
like, "Yeah, we could like make a truly
custom bag now." And so I I designed an
M19.
>> Everything is c It's not a stock bag
with just, you know, logo and a name.
It's now like I made this.
>> I I'll show you after. They're pretty
sick.
>> That's sweet. That's That's cool. Maybe
I should have joined a couple months
later.
>> I know. [laughter]
So, well, I'm thinking about man, do I
want to use that one for like tournament
winners and like, you know, make it a
very exclusive thing. But,
>> you know, I was golfing with the founder
of Blue T's, the rangefinders and
speakers. And so, um, they're going to
join and, you know, do something cool.
And, you know, we got you, we've got
iron makers like AOTA and crank drivers
and, um, branded bills as well. And it's
just cool, man. It's cool to see like
how that apparel slash just goods
e-commerce side of the world works in
the golf space.
>> Yeah, it's it's a fun industry for sure.
>> Yeah. So, what would you say to somebody
who's thinking about joining M19?
They've seen the ad, but they haven't
pulled the trigger.
>> I'd say join. It's it's a lot of fun. If
you can uh if you want to join and play
some iconic courses, then uh I'd
probably say if you're 20 handicap or
better, definitely join.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Even if you're a hack,
you know, we we got some coaches in the
group, too. So, we we can figure out how
to get you get you right. Um but if
somebody wants to to work with you guys,
man, where where do they go?
>> So, zaptheadwear.com. You can see all of
our hats there. You can fill out forms
for custom hats on there as well,
>> and you guys will do everything. You'll
let them pick the colors, the
everything, the logo, anything you want.
There might be some minimums for certain
decoration styles, like rubber patches
versus leather patches, you know, just
the uh difficulty of making them.
They're they're different. But yeah, we
can do pretty much anything. Um yeah, go
on zapware.com and
>> all of our selection.
>> There we go. Well, guys, we will link to
Zapetware um down below in the
description. Uh, if you like these
episodes, you want to keep meeting
awesome founders in M19, make sure
you're subscribed to this podcast
because we're dropping episodes every
single week. Um, where you get to see
who's actually in the group and what
they're doing. So, go check it out and
we'll see you on the next one. Pace.