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15: Turning $20,000 of Poker Winnings Into a 44 Unit Retail Chain with John-Paul Willett of Red Star Vapor
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In this episode of Outside The System, I spoke with John-Paul Willett, the founder of Red Star Vapor. JP first caught my attention in a Twitter thread where he shared how he got the initial funding for his business through winning $20,000 playing poker. Since then, I've gotten to learn more about his entrepreneurial journey and wanted to share it with you. It really illustrates that there are many ways to build businesses.
Timestamps
(1:34) Introduction to JP's background
(2:15) How JP originally got interested in the vape industry
(7:25) JP's original vape liquid business and what led to his pivot to retail
(10:10) How JP got started with his vape liquid business
(13:02) How the retail business got started
(14:18) Scaling retail vs software businesses
(17:52) The $20,000 poker story
(29:55) 3 Questions About Red Star Vapor's growth
(34:47) Hustling offline to sell physical products, similarities between JP's story and Estee Lauder
(36:55) Vapes as a risk reduction tool for smokers
(37:42) The employee-built playbook for scaling and growing Red Star Vapor
(47:50) Some mistakes along the way
(50:45) Resources that have inspired John-Paul
Resources and Links
John Paul's Twitter thread with his poker winning story
How FedEx founder Fred Smith saved the business by turning $5,000 into $27,000 playing blackjack
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
The Everything Store by Brad Stone
Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark
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