Scaling Smart and Reclaiming Your Time with Cole Vandee

Tim Melanson: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to today’s episode of the Work at Home Rockstar podcast. Excited for today’s episode. We’re talking to the co-founder of Inboxing Engine, and what he does is he helps businesses to scale their revenue through email marketing. So I’m excited to be rocking out with Cole Vandee Hey Cole, you ready to rock?

Cole Vandee: I am man. I am. Thanks for having me.

Tim Melanson: Awesome. Thanks for being here. We always start off on a good note. So tell me a story of success in your business that we can be inspired by.

Cole Vandee: Yeah, I, you know, there’s, I think I have lots over the years, um, that are wins. I think we find a lot of wins. Um, but more recently for me, um, really I. Been finding the, the confidence in doing business kind of on my own. So, uh, for many years I had a, a business partner in my email marketing agency. We went by a different name.

Um, it was great. I learned a lot from business. He was a great mentor. He’s still a great friend of mine. Um, but I just hit that point where it was like I was ready to kind of go on my own. And so I’ve been kind of charting my own path more recently and, [00:01:00] uh, it’s been a big win, um, and a big success for myself and it’s been really exciting to, to kind of experience that.

Um. You know, on my own, so.

Tim Melanson: So what’s the, like, what’s the difference between running it as a partnership and running it as a, as a solopreneur? How is, how is that different for you?

Cole Vandee: Uh, I truthfully, like, kind of looking back, um, the only real difference is like in the, the non tangibles. Um, and on paper I. So, uh, when I had brought my business partner on, um, he was just acted kind of as an advisor. Um, didn’t really operate in the business, had his own businesses going on. Um, he was originally a client and then I brought him on as a partner just ’cause he had a lot more business experience.

So I think for me, the biggest difference, um, between the two, uh. Based on that scenario is really that, uh, I don’t have like this thought lingering in the back of my head of like, why does this person have equity in like my company [00:02:00] when they’re not like in the trenches with me working on it? Um, and I kind of outgrew like that needing of the advisor kind of stage of the business itself.

So.

Tim Melanson: So would you recommend it to somebody else though? Like to get started that way?

Cole Vandee: I, that’s a great question. I think like, I think the, the overarching question is, should I have a business partner? And I think the answer is why would you have a business partner? And if you’re really clear on that, then it makes a lot of sense. I have friends of mine that have had business partners for many years, and it works extremely well.

Like I have friends that have, they’ve started and launched. Dozens of businesses with their business partner over decades and the, they just work really, really, really well together. And it’s because they’re incredibly clear about, this is my thing. That’s your thing. Let’s do this thing together. Instead of, I’m scared to do this on my own, let me bring someone else in, or, I’m not good enough to do that thing.

Let me bring someone else in. It’s just like getting really strategic about [00:03:00] why, and that’s something that I just didn’t do in the beginning, so that’s why I chose to kind of go my own path. Um, and I’m sure you know, over the next decade or two, I’ll find more business partners for more things where I’ll think a little more strategically about why am I bringing someone in and are they helping move this, this mission forward?

Tim Melanson: Yeah. And you know what, I think that what you said is actually valid though, because if you don’t have the confidence to do it on your own, then that is the why you’re bringing in a business partner, right? Because it, it’s just being clear on, on that. ’cause would you have done it if that business partner wasn’t there?

Cole Vandee: Yeah, I mean, I, I’ve, I’ve run businesses in the past. I think it was more of, um, just lack of confidence in myself and I wasn’t gonna find that in bringing anyone else on. Um, you know, I easily could have just, you know, I. Went to a mastermind or an event and learned, just as, you know, similar stuff that I had learned throughout that process of working with him.[00:04:00]

But I, I allowed it to kind of hold me back from kind of building the business. And so a lot of the success that could have been had years ago was delayed as a result of going slow, being timid, relying on someone that’s not in the business to kind of guide and shape the business. It just didn’t make the most sense.

Tim Melanson: All right, so then a along the past, sometimes there’s things that don’t go as planned there. I call those the bad notes. I’m wondering, can you share something that, uh, you learned from and that we can learn from as well?

Cole Vandee: Uh, the, the, the, it, it flows really well into what I just shared, but. Uh, back, this would’ve been seven years ago now. I launched my first like copywriting agency and copywriting is just writing words for advertising basically. And so I launched this agency. I had a big name, I had a lot of momentum going, and I had a lot of people wanting to pay me to write.

And so with zero experience, having no idea what I was doing and doing it all on my own, I [00:05:00] hired a massive sales team to help facilitate all the deals. So I had like 20 or 30 salespeople across fourth. Three or four continents, um, with no manager. And then I had writers, uh, in like 20 or 25 different countries, um, that were writing.

And this all happened in a matter of maybe 90 days. Um, and so I scaled it incredibly fast, had no idea where anybody’s projects were, had no idea if things were getting done, had no idea if things were getting delivered. I had no idea if salespeople were just keeping money for themselves. Like I. I had no idea what was going on.

And so, um, it got to the point where people were like, Hey, like I paid for something and I didn’t get it. And hey, like your team said that this would get done and it, you know, I haven’t gotten it. And it just became like this big massive burden of, I. I have no idea, um, what’s going on. My name is the only name that’s on any of this, and, uh, I have no idea what’s happening.

So I had to, I refunded everybody. So I, I sent out like [00:06:00] $300,000 in refunds. Um, I fired everyone. I had every writer, every salesperson, let all of them go. I. Paid all, had to pay them all out on everything that they had put down as this is the work I had done. And then I worked for free for the next 12 months to finish fulfilling on everything that we had taken money for, had promised people were expecting things.

And so I got a job and, and, and worked full-time in a job. And then in the morning and at night and during the job and everything else, like I’m writing and just getting. All this stuff done that I didn’t get to see a dollar for. Um, and so, uh, my biggest thing was like, uh, you know, the lesson I learned was I scaled very fast with no plan and then didn’t put any sort of infrastructure in place to make sure that the ship would stay afloat.

And then, um. Ended up just shouldering it all. And so the, the lesson on the back, back end of that for me was like, no matter what you do, you’ll always find a way to get through it and you’ll survive it. Um, it’s just like [00:07:00] finding a middle ground between massive scale very quickly and strategic scale that makes sense and can actually be sustained. Okay.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Wow.

Cole Vandee: it was a, it was a tough one. There was, there was many days where getting outta bed was the hardest thing in the world to do. Um, I, I remember that for sure. So.

Tim Melanson: So, so what, what, what do you think was in your head, like, if we could like go back to right before you made all these decisions, to scale that quickly, what do you think was the mindset? Like why, why do you think you made that mistake?

Cole Vandee: It was pure ego. I was seven years ago. I was 23, 22. Um, you know, I, I grew up fairly poor, uh, in the Midwest. Um, so I mean, I was making 1500 bucks a month. I eventually got into sales and started making okay money. Um, moved to California and was like. Gung-ho, no one was gonna tell me anything. [00:08:00] I slept on a friend’s couch.

I made no money. I didn’t have a job. I had no money in my bank account. ’cause I spent everything. And I was like, I’m gonna be successful. I’m gonna figure this thing out. And the moment that I got a just a small taste of momentum in building my business, I was just like all in like, all right, I’ll do everything.

And I said no to nobody. If someone wanted me to write for patio furniture, we did it. If we were write, we were writing for fitness coaches and women’s coaching and anything that you could, anyone that was willing to give us money for any amount of thing and any amount of price, it didn’t matter. Like we just said yes to everything and collected every dollar that we could.

Um, so it was really the, the ego and the, the arrogance of like, yeah, we’re the best and we’ll do everything. And that definitely was a very great recipe for failure.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Okay. Well there’s so many lessons in there. I didn’t even know where to start.

Cole Vandee: There are. There are.

Tim Melanson: but that’s, I mean, it’s, it’s funny [00:09:00] that you, uh, say that because I think most people, when they think of failure, it’s the exact opposite. They’re thinking about, I can’t get sales in the door.

Right. They

Cole Vandee: That’s,

Tim Melanson: know, it’s, but, but there is a such thing as too much, too fast. Right? And that’s something that I don’t think a lot of people quite think about, you know?

Cole Vandee: Absolutely. The, the biggest, you know, my, my ex-business partner, um, that we just left with, he’s a good friend of mine and I’ve been with him for, I’ve been teaching with his, with his community and working with him for years now, um, seven or eight years. And, you know, when he first launched the, the first edition of that company, he went from zero to a million dollars a month and like.

Two or three months, and everyone’s like, dude, that’s amazing. Besides the guys that have already done it. And they’re all like, are you okay? Like, do you, do you need someone to like come in and help out? Do you need an operations manager? Like, do you have a therapist? And it’s like, unless you’ve been through that process, you have no idea how overwhelming it is.

It’s, it’s kind of like [00:10:00] winning the lottery every single day. And then you owe. People money on that lottery. Money every single day and problems come with that lottery ticket every single day.

Tim Melanson: Wow. Yeah, that’s a, a really great way to look at it too. And, and I. You, you do like, especially if you’re in a great niche where there is business coming in, like you’ll have friends that don’t know what they’re talking about. Obviously that will kind of go like, why don’t you expand? You know, you could, you know, you could grow so much faster, you could do this, you could do that.

And you know, all these shiny objects start to get, you know, and, and it is really super tempting to just go, yeah, sure, why don’t I just do that? But there is a danger that comes on the other side of that, as you say, right.

Cole Vandee: Yeah, there, there’s definitely what I have found. Now, if there’s like, ’cause I know there’s like a lot happening in, in the, in this what I’ve shared, but the, I think the golden thing to take out of this is like, I. Be very focused and intentional about what you do, and then just do a lot of that thing and do it [00:11:00] well.

Um, and that will solve a lot of the, the problems. You know me now, me now knowing what I’ve already been through and how to move through that in the future. I. It’s very much pick one problem, solve one problem, do it very well, um, and do it for a select group of people, and just do a lot of that thing and then get people under you that’ll eventually help take some of the administration stuff off of your plate and help you kind of keep organized and, and more of the mundane and stuff that you shouldn’t really be using brain space for anyways.

Tim Melanson: Right. So let’s talk a little bit about practicing and, you know, honing a crap, getting good at what you do, staying good at what you do. Uh, what is your philosophy on that, I guess.

Cole Vandee: Oh. It’s kind like if you took David Goggins and then turned him into like a poet and, and, and, and kind of blended those two worlds. So for me, like I was, you know, when I first got started in sales, I was 18, 19 years old. Um, zero experience, zero idea what I was doing, zero training from the company that I worked for.

Um, I [00:12:00] just practiced every single day, like 20 hours a day. Like if I wasn’t. Actively with a customer. I was practicing, I was studying, I was taking notes, I was watching videos. Um, and I did this for years. And then I got out of sales and decided I wanted to do marketing. So I was practicing marketing every single day.

And then I got into copywriting. I wrote, uh, my first year I remember was actually the memories came up on Facebook. I was writing a hundred to 200,000 words a week, which is. Much more than a Harry Potter book every single week. And I did that for 18 months in a row. And so for me, I, I got 10,000 hours worth of training under my belt for copywriting in just like a couple of years.

And so, um, practice is what separates the, the greats from the average and what makes business significantly easier. Um, especially if you’re a freelancer of some sort or if you’re selling some sort of skill, um, as a service in some way. [00:13:00] Um, being great at it is, is a massive advantage because most people just aren’t willing to do it.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Yeah, that’s for sure. You know, they sort of see the icing at the end of it and, and go, oh yeah, I want that. But you know, in reality it’s like, okay, well what are you willing to do to get that right?

Cole Vandee: Yeah, what are you, what prices are you willing to pay in order to have the life you say you want? And most people see that price tag and decide to put it back and go, maybe not for me. I.

Tim Melanson: yeah. Yeah. But I think I, um, actually, what are, what do you think are the components that, that you need in order to, I don’t know, have the, the mindset to do that work?

Cole Vandee: There’s, uh, Damon John, I think summed it up pretty well in the Power of Broke, um, which was his book about his journey. But, and, and I just shared actually, um, I. A long blog post about this not too long [00:14:00] ago. Um, but there, and Chris Williamson actually says it’s the best. So let me, let me put it the way he puts it.

If you, if you have to travel a half a mile, you’ll probably walk, and if you have to travel two miles, you’ll probably drive. Which means that if the destination is further and harder, you are more willing to apply more resources to make it happen, right? It will take you longer to walk a half a mile than it would for you to drive two miles, unless you live in like D downtown, Los Angeles or Manhattan, right?

Like those are two different, those are different worlds, but for the most part in most places, right? To travel two miles, it’s significantly faster for you to drive that and to travel that two miles than it would be for you to walk a half a mile. And so when we put that into perspective for our own lives, if your life is kind of cushy and comfortable and, and you’re content, it’s gonna be really hard to be motivated to like work harder and to succumb to the, you know, boringness and the [00:15:00] aloneness.

Of which it is to study and to practice and to hone your craft and to put yourself out there and get rejected. But when your back’s against the wall, like for me, you know, I was poor and I moved out to California and I had, we had, we had six people living in a three bedroom apartment. I had people laying on couches, we had people sleeping in dining rooms.

Um. Like I was making no money. Like I had no tr I was either going to be homeless or I was going to be successful. There was no like middle ground for me. Um, and part of that comes, came from this like all or nothing attitude. Like I was either gonna be homeless or successful. There was no like middle class for me.

I. So that was kinda the mindset that I put myself in and, uh, kind of stayed in and it was incredibly powerful for, uh, my growth and, and my ability to work long days when it would’ve been easier to watch Netflix. Um, but I just stayed uncomfortable and just kept pushing forward.

Tim Melanson: Oh, [00:16:00] super deep. That’s very good though. And I, I think you’re right. I think that there’s, um. There’s a lot of disadvantage to being comfortable. Right. And to being in that place where, you know, there’s, you know, everything’s just fine. Right. Uh, you know, but it’s not extraordinary. Right. And, and in order for you to get to that extraordinary level in anything you do, I mean, music is one of them too.

It, it is gonna take a lot of work and for you to get up and do that work every day, you know, with the consistency that you need to do that 10,000 hours that you’re talking about. It’s gotta be some pretty deep why’s, right?

Cole Vandee: Absolutely. Yeah, it’s, it’s comfort is incredibly challenging. I, and I also wanna be really clear, not, not everyone is built for like the, not everyone’s willing to pay the price for more. And that’s okay. There’s nothing absolutely zero things wrong with not wanting more. Um, it’s for like the people like me, probably like you as well, where it’s like.

We know more is available. We know that more [00:17:00] is for us, uh, and we know that we’re willing to pay the prices in order to have it. And so because we know what that price is, we’re willing to pay it. And it’s because I, for me personally, I just compare the price of what I have to pay to get more out of my life.

Versus the price I would have to pay to live my life in comfort. And for me at the end of my life’s journey, if a movie played of what could have been, if I would’ve just applied myself and I had to live this average life all the way up to that moment, and I get to watch this amazing movie of all the things I could have done, all the countries I could have traveled to, to all the food I could have ate, all the people I could have met, all the lives I could have impacted.

I had to sit there and watch that movie knowing I could have lived that life. For me, that would be the worst moment of anything. That’s, that’s worst case scenario. And so for me, I’d rather pay the price now, uh, even if I’d never end up finding what my full potential is.

Tim Melanson: Cool. I can tell you’re a good writer. [00:18:00] You’re just a thinker. Wow, that’s awesome. So, okay, let’s talk a little bit about the band and about. People that you have around you, so you know, I mean, hey, you’ve, you’ve mentioned that you’ve gotten big teams. You’ve let them all go. Like, what? What, first of all, I guess, what’s the people that you have around you right now in your band?

Cole Vandee: Yeah. Um, my significant other, uh, so my, my girl, she is awesome. Uh, we’ve been together for a couple of years now and, uh. Personally at home is like a huge rock for me. Um, she is the exact opposite of how I operate. I, I lead with Let’s go, go, go, go, go. And she leads very much from the heart and emotion, empathy, um, which are things that I definitely lack and I’m working on.

Um, but she finds a way to keep me grounded, which is amazing. And having someone like that in your life, whether it’s a significant other or a friend or mentor, incredibly powerful. Um, definitely do not. Overlook that. Um, and then the [00:19:00] next is the first hire. Anyone should, I think, should have, no matter what you do, you should have some sort of a personal assistant or executive assistant.

Um, they just pick, they just do the things you like. I hate running my own calendar. Um, it’s not fun. And so I have an like my executive assistant. Runs my calendars. And so he’s included in email chains and everything else and just runs my calendar. He makes sure that my meetings are spaced out and they’re, they make it to the calendar or if I have a conflict, he reaches out and handles this ’cause I just don’t want to do that stuff.

Um, but anyone that can just kind of take that low dollar task and do it for you, let them do it and. The, the biggest challenge that I had in the very beginning was thinking that no one could do it as good as I could. Um, and which is not true. There’s not a single thing that I can do better than a $9 an hour VA from the [00:20:00] Philippines.

I. In any part of my business and I generate hundreds of millions of dollars for, for my clients. Um, but I can plug VAs virtual assistants from the Philippines at $9 an hour and I can plug them in and they can follow a step-by-step process and they can produce a similar result for me. Um, and so I’ve kind of checked out of the, I’m better than everyone else, so I have to do it phase of my business and my life, and I’ve started to bring other people in to, to really help out with that.

Tim Melanson: Wow. So, and do you find that, ’cause I, I think a lot of people struggle to do that, I think, because that’s probably a pretty natural thing for especially entrepreneurs. But then I, I, I do wanna dig in a little bit to the whole, to hiring abroad. So do you feel like it’s harder to trust people from abroad?

Like how, how did you get through that?

Cole Vandee: Uh, you know. I think hiring anyone is challenging. Um, and [00:21:00] at the end of the day, all you can do is trust people to be people.

Tim Melanson: Hmm.

Cole Vandee: Right. And so hiring someone from abroad, hiring someone from the states, truthfully, if I’m, if I’m paying minimum wage in the states, I’m paying what, 14 bucks an hour or 15 bucks an hour.

Um, that’s a minimum wage worker. And so, you know, at 15 bucks an hour, they probably can’t afford their own place unless they live somewhere in the Midwest. Um, they’re probably living with their parents or in subsidized housing or with a bunch of roommates or whatever it may be. Um, and I’m not knocking 15 bucks an hour.

I used to have a job at eight bucks an hour. I’m just kinda laying out kind of my, my perception of this, right? So you’re, I’m less likely to trust, uh, a random person in America that grew up on American values, basically post nineties. Um, that is chasing a dollar trying to get ahead. They’re stuck in this rut.

They see the American dream, the influencers, the tiktoks and [00:22:00] everything else. Versus someone that’s born in a third world country, for example, where they’re raised on values, culture, some sort of system of ethics and moral and everything else. Like I’m, I’m actually more likely to trust, um, uh, someone out of the country just because of the, the cultural differences.

They’re way more likely to. To follow through with what they say they’re gonna do and do the things that they say they’re gonna do, um, versus what I found in, in American society, just because the ones that follow through and do the things they say they’re gonna do and, and all that fun stuff, they go on to make 30 bucks an hour, 40 bucks an hour.

Tim Melanson: Yeah.

Cole Vandee: And I just, you know, in the beginning, I’m just not prepared to pay that kind of money for an American worker. So I’d rather find someone overseas.

Tim Melanson: Wow. That’s great insight, Cole. And, and also I think nine bucks an hour is a pretty good salary for the

Cole Vandee: It’s really good. Yeah. I mean, you can, you can find workers for four and five, maybe even six bucks an hour. That are pretty good. I, I just, I find ones, I pay ’em a little bit more [00:23:00] and, um, and, and that works really well for me. I.

Tim Melanson: Well, you’re creating a massive win-win, right? I mean, like what we mentioned earlier, I mean, not everybody is, has that huge desire to build a big business. Some people really do want that comfort and they want that regular job. And that’s awesome. We need, we need ’em both, right? So, you know, if you could find somebody who’s making it a great wage, uh, you know, is, is is providing for their family and is very happy doing what they’re doing, then that’s a win-win for both of you.

You’re getting what you want. They’re getting what they want, right?

Cole Vandee: Absolutely. Yeah, 100%. And they get to do it on their time too, which is, which is also really nice. Um, I don’t demand any of my, um, people work. At a certain time of the day, I just, there’s some, I just need stuff done, and so do it However you need to get it done, you know, it’s up to you. I, I’m not gonna dictate how you do your job, just expect you to do it.

Um, that tends to work really well for people.

Tim Melanson: That’s awesome. Right on. Let’s talk a little bit [00:24:00] about getting fans and, I mean, I think that this conversation just keeps changing, uh, you know, over the years because, uh, you know, with social media and the way that we live now and everybody’s connected, you’re connected all around the world. Hey, you’ve got people working in the Philippines for you, right?

I mean, that’s just crazy that you could reach so many people, but just because that audience is there, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re fans of yours. So I’m wondering how do you get them to be like a fan of yours rather than just being part of the audience?

Cole Vandee: I, I think. I think, I mean, I, I, I did a stint in the music business for a while as well, so like, I have like literal experience in getting fans for artists and the thing that worked there was just being real, um, and actually connecting with them so many times, especially in the TikTok world and the Instagram world that we live in, or social media world that we live in, regardless of what happens to be the new app, uh.

The, the idea is that they want to create distance between them and their [00:25:00] fans to show that they’re on, on a different level, or they’re bigger, or they’re better, or they’re famous, or they’re whatever. Right? Whatever it happens to be for them. And that might work for a few people. Um, but if you go back to like the early days of some of these big influencers that are out there when they only had a thousand or 2000 followers, um, you can see them engaging with their people.

Right. And so as an entrepreneur, you’re building a personal brand or whatever it may be. The, the absolute hardest thing in the world to do is to share your actual journey of where you’re at. Um, for me, I was very fortunate as a writer, right? I wanted to be a copywriter, so I just wrote a lot. So I started a blog, this would’ve been 2015 or 2016, started a blog, um, and just wrote every single day about anything, whatever came to mind.

And published it. And that’s how I kind of created my first fans, [00:26:00] um, if you will, and people started to go, oh, Cole can write. Cole writes, well, Cole has some good ideas. Cole, like Cole is Cole. That, and it wasn’t like I invented new stuff. It was just like sharing. Um, and so through that, like authentic sharing, sharing consistently, um, and sharing from a place of true authenticity, um, I was able to build a lot of fans.

And then I’ve just stayed consistent with that over the years of writing. Making now, nowadays making videos actually works a lot better. It’s why I’m doing these, you know, podcasts and stuff like that. Um, is just sharing more of like your opinions, what you believe in, what you’re willing to stand for, what you disagree with, uh, and then actually helping people along the way tends to be a great recipe for success.

Tim Melanson: That’s awesome. I, you know, I feel like the playing field is so much more level now than it ever was. ’cause like you said, I mean, you just, you were just able to publish stuff, you know, just ’cause you can. Right. Whereas, you know, 40, 50 years ago, that’s not really the case. You could, [00:27:00] there’s no such thing as that.

Like you had to get somebody to publish you. And now, you know, like you say, as long as you, I, I, I think now it’s like, um, the hard work actually can pay off. Whereas before, it was like the connections that you needed in order for you to even get the chance to put the hard work in. Right.

Cole Vandee: Yeah, absolutely. They say with, uh, with pod, the average podcast show today never makes it past like five or six episodes.

Tim Melanson: Well,

Cole Vandee: Right. And so when you, when you see shows that are 50 episodes in a hundred episodes, in 200 episodes in, even if they don’t have 10,000 reviews, for example, they’re still getting some sort of downloads.

They’re building some sort of fan base and people are listening and it’s, you know, if you put a hundred people in your bedroom today. That’s a lot of people and we just get so skewed by like seeing, you know, a hundred thousand followers or a million followers. Like you have no idea. [00:28:00] Like if you put a million people in one space like you, one, you would never be able to talk to all of them.

And two, uh, it would be absolutely chaos. Like, it just wouldn’t, it wouldn’t be what you think it would be. I think I, I don’t remember how many people at Martin Luther King’s, I had a dream speech. Um, I. At the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, but I don’t, I don’t believe it was a million people. I think it was about half of that.

And so if, if that man that had that much impact on history only needed a couple of hundred thousand people to share his message, you don’t need millions of people to share your message.

Tim Melanson: I think and, and I think that’s the, just it is that we sort of have the skewed view of what, you know, what a YouTube video should get in terms of, of, of views. Right. Yeah.

Cole Vandee: it’s crazy to think.

Tim Melanson: But like, uh, you know, even with small, you know, even with small numbers coming in or, or you know, relatively small numbers compared to that.

You know, even for me, I still do, you [00:29:00] know, have people in my local area that are like, oh, I watched a podcast the other day. I’m like, ohoh. That’s cool. That’s good to hear. So you, you people are listening, you know, even if those numbers are, are quite small, and like you say, you don’t need giant numbers in order to get, I, I suppose it depends on what your goals are.

Hey, if you’ve got huge, huge goals, that’s great, right? But I mean, if you’re running a, you know, if you’re self-employed, if you’ve got a small business, then I mean, it’s all relative, right?

Cole Vandee: Absolutely. I have, um, my girls’ family, they own a, a brick and mortar store in, in LA and they sell, um, high-end plates, uh, dinner plates, tableware, kitchenware, stuff like that. And, uh, you know, for, I think we ran, we spent about, I. $800 on a, on a video ad on Instagram, um, just in the local area. Did a lot of hyper targeting and stuff like that.

All that fun stuff. And they’re getting texts and messages like, we saw your video. [00:30:00] This was amazing. We came in because of your video. And like, just in like the hyperlocal area to where that store is became kind of famous, right? Like people are seeing, like, we’re getting te like, Hey, my wife saw that video, or my kids saw that, you know.

And it for less than a thousand bucks, we just get so hung up on like, we need millions of people to do this, or we need X or Y or Z. Like, you just need the right people to see your stuff. Um, and you just need to put yourself out there. And people will definitely be like, Hey, like you’ve been consistent.

I’ve been seeing you, or I heard about that, or I saw that. Even if they’re not commenting, even if they’re not liking, even if they’re not sharing, people are still watching and they care. Um, so.

Tim Melanson: And that consistency. It, uh, it, it does just build trust, basically. I mean, they say, wow, you’ve, you know, you’ve been doing this for a little while. That’s pretty impressive. And, you know, if they’re looking at, you know, spending some money and they’ve got a couple different options and they see one that’s been [00:31:00] consistent and putting in the hard work, and they see one that hasn’t, well, what are they gonna go with?

Right? I mean, what would you go with,

Cole Vandee: Absolutely, absolutely. I was just looking for, um, someone to help with, like bookkeeping and stuff like that in the local area. Pull up it on Google, and the one that’s like one plus year in business, two plus year, and I find the one that’s 35 plus year in business. I’m like, I’m gonna hit them up first.

Like, if you’re in business that long, you have to, you either have to be doing something really right or you have to be paying a lot of people off to be quiet. Either way is a win for me. So.

Tim Melanson: It’s a good point. My God. So it’s time for your guest solo. Tell me what’s exciting in your business right now. Cole.

Cole Vandee: So, uh, like, like you mentioned, I’m the, I’m the owner of inboxing engine.com, so we basically do email marketing for anyone that’s doing 3 million a year or more in revenue. Uh, coaches, consultants, course creators, stuff like that. And I think the fun part in the world that we live in today, you know, it’s the second quarter of [00:32:00] 2025 and, uh.

As we’re recording this and, and I’m really looking at how can I take everything that I have in my brain, how can I build that into some sort of AI tool so that anyone can have access to it? ’cause right now our clients are paying us 10, 20, 30,000 a month. Sometimes on certain months, we’ll make significantly more than that with them, depending on what we’re doing.

And. Uh, that’s just not accessible for most companies. Most, like 96 or 97% of companies never break a million a year. Most of them never break a hundred thousand dollars a year, and so they’re left with this complex. Like dilemma of like, how do I scale my business? How do I make more money? And then they, there’s guys like me out there that like, we get paid more than they make in an entire year in their business.

And we’re like, that’s how much we, we, we get paid. So it’s hard to get really good help. So trying to, to break down what we do in email, put it in an algorithm, which we already have most of the data set kind of laid out, and [00:33:00] then building an entire software basically around this to be able to plug into.

Anyone’s business for an extremely low price. Um, to be able to help them make email decisions, write, write their emails, write their subject lines, analyze the data, uh, curate promotions, like all the stuff that we do for our high-end clients that are crushing it. Um, be able to install that into any business, at any level, selling any product.

So that’s what’s really exciting when that gets released, when that rolls out. I have no idea. Um, as it is definitely a large project, but we are definitely working on it for 2025 and really excited to, to see what comes of that.

Tim Melanson: That’ll be cool. I’m looking forward to seeing that for sure. I’m wondering. So now what? What’s the process that someone would go through if they wanted to start working with you?

Cole Vandee: Yeah. Um, so first, uh, like if you’re doing 3 million a year or more, um, we’re definitely looking for companies that want to scale. So, uh. Really interesting kind of phenomenon I’ve noticed with entrepreneurs. [00:34:00] But, uh, they hit a revenue point and they just want to stay there. And so hiring, hiring us, we don’t do well with su sustaining.

We, we only do really well with scale. I. So if you’re 3 million or more and you’re scaling to the next milestone, three to 10 million, 10 to 30, 30 to 50, 50 to a hundred are typically the milestones there. Um, yeah, we would, we would, uh, you’d fill out a form. Um, I’d analyze all of that if I think you’re a good fit, um, that we could actually help you based on the information you provide.

We’ll jump on a call. Um, I’ll just ask some clarifying questions. If you’re gonna spend a hundred grand a year with me, you’re probably gonna ask me some clarifying questions to make sure I can do what I’m gonna do right? Um, and then if all is a good fit, uh, we get started and, uh, basically we dive in, we clean up the list, uh, we fix all the inboxing and deliverability right out of the gate.

I. We set up a cadence, um, as far as how we’re gonna nurture the list, how we’re gonna kind of transition this list into a actual breathable asset that we can pull multiple six figures, even [00:35:00] seven figures a month out of it, um, for you, and then just kind of build that plan in and, and get that thing going.

So yeah, you just visit inboxing engine.com. Uh, there should be like a book, a demo or a book a call button somewhere on that page and grab that and fill out the times and yeah, see if it’s, uh, see if it’s a good fit.

Tim Melanson: Nice. Are there specific industries that you work with mainly or any? Just anybody who’s at that revenue point.

Cole Vandee: Yeah, I mean, most people are at that revenue point. Um. Mostly coaches and consultants, course creators, uh, of any kind. You know, if you have a dating offer, we’re happy to help If you have supplements, um, like protein powders or liver pills or whatever it ends up happening to be. Anything that’s not in the adult space, um, happy to work with that.

Um, we’ve even worked with, you know, D two C type. Um. You know, uh, brands, um, that are, that are big brands, so some pet companies that, that service the pet industry and, and things of that sort. [00:36:00] Um, so yeah, we’re, we’re not super picky. We, we definitely prefer that you’re running some sort of paid traffic. Uh, you know, if you’re, if you’re a big company doing, you know, with millions and millions of followers and you’ve never spent a dollar on advertising, our system probably isn’t gonna work the best for you.

Um, we definitely prefer anyone running like direct response type. Marketing and their business as a core customer acquisition model.

Tim Melanson: Okay. Right on. Okay, so how do we find out more then?

Cole Vandee: Uh, you can follow me on social media, um, you know, at Cole Vandee, V-A-N-D-E-E, um, on any social, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. Um, I’m not on TikTok, so that’s probably a, a detractor in today’s society, but I just don’t. I don’t use it and I, and I don’t post on it. Um, so, but I still have a handle over there if you wanna follow me there and on LinkedIn as well.

Um, Cole Vandee on LinkedIn.

Tim Melanson: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for rocking it with me today, Cole. This has been a lot of fun.

Cole Vandee: Awesome. Yeah, thank you for having me. I had a bunch of fun as well.

Tim Melanson: I do have one more question, [00:37:00] though. It’s probably the hardest one. Who’s your favorite rockstar?

Cole Vandee: Ooh, that is a great quote, man. This, this one’s gonna be tied. The first name that popped into my head was Kid Rock, and I’ll explain why. There’s a lot of reasons why that’s probably not the best. Answer from a PR perspective. But I can just remember as a kid, like my parents listened to Kid Rock, um, everything else I was born in the, in the early nineties.

And so, um, I remembered like as a kid, just in the backseat of the car and just, you know, kid rock is playing, right? And so those are some like really great memories for me, um, as a kid. Um, probably not the best music to listen to as like a 7-year-old or a 6-year-old, but, you know, whatever. Um. But yeah, it was, it was a bunch of fun.

So I, I would say them, I would say more modern day. Um, like looking at all of it, I would say, uh, machine Gun Kelly, um, and Alex, I’ll preface that with, I’ve been following him since like 2010, I think. Um, so. Yeah, like 14, 15 [00:38:00] years. I, I’ve been, I’ve been with him on his journey watching his YouTube content when he used to get like 800 views on a video kind of thing.

And so watching his career kind of progress and, and for him to grow into who he is today and, and everything else has been really, really exciting. Really awesome. I love his story, um, and his journey as well. So it’s been, been cool to watch.

Tim Melanson: Love that. Thank you so much, Cole. This has been a lot of fun.

Cole Vandee: Awesome. Thanks Tim. I appreciate it, man.

Tim Melanson: Cool. And to the listeners, make sure you subscribe, rate and comment, but also go to workathomerockstar.com for more information and we’ll see you next time on the Work at Home Rockstar Podcast.