IAM1266 – CEO Created a Coffee Company Targeting Outdoor Community

Zach Frantz is an entrepreneur, sales expert, and the founder of Wildland Coffee. Growing up in San Diego, he enjoyed two things starting from a young age: camping and the idea of being an entrepreneur. In fact, he started his first business, Cakes By Zach, at age 9. After graduating, Zach further honed his tech and e-commerce skills by working for two software startups in Salt Lake City. While living there, Zach and his wife enjoyed many camping trips but would get fed up trying to make good-tasting coffee with a French press.

He knew there had to be a better way to make and enjoy coffee while on the go. As it turns out, there was. In hopes of inspiring more people to get outdoors, Zach launched Wildland Coffee in the spring of 2021. With the brand's innovative Coffee in a Tea Bag, you can easily make tasty coffee wherever you are. His motto in both business and life is ‘rising tides should lift all boats, which is why he hopes, above all, to do right by his team, his community, and the environment.

• CEO Story: Zach started his entrepreneurial journey when he was 9. Since then his passion for solving customers’ problems has been a motivation. That’s why Wildland Coffee was established because of the lack of good-tasting coffee while going on camping trips.
• Business Service: Packed Coffee in a tea bag. Easier to make coffee targeting the outdoor community.
• Secret Sauce: Very high risk-tolerant. Whatever happens, just keep moving on. Have a very genuine conversational tone with the brand. Zach uses UGC – user-generated content.
• CEO Hack: Diet. Eating healthy food and drinking a lot of water has a huge difference in mental performance.
• CEO Nugget: When starting a business, be as specific as possible as to who your target market is, niche down.
• CEO Defined: The person who comes up with the vision and strategy. Bringing in the right person and making sure they have the right position.

Website: www.wildlandcoffee.co

LinkedIn: zachfrantz

Instagram:wildlandcoffeeco

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Transcription

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00:18 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:45 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Zach Frantz of Wildland Coffee. Zach, super excited to have you on the show.

00:55 – Zach Frantz

Thanks, Gresh, really appreciate it.

00:55 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, definitely appreciate you as well. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Zach so you can hear about some of the awesome things that he's doing. Zach is an entrepreneur, sales expert, and the founder of Wildland Coffee. Growing up in San Diego, he enjoyed 2 things, starting from a young age, camping, and the idea of being an entrepreneur. In fact, he started his first business, Cakes by Zach, at the age of 9.

After graduating from San Diego State University, Zach further honed his tech and e-commerce skills by working for 2 software startups in Salt Lake City. While living there, Zach and his wife enjoyed many camping trips but would get fed up trying to make good-tasting coffee with a French press. He knew there had to be a better way to make and enjoy coffee while on the go. And as it turns out, there was. In the hopes of inspiring more people to get outdoors, Zach launched Wildland Coffee in the spring of 2021.

And with the brand's innovative coffee in a tea bag, you can easily make tasty coffee wherever you are. His motto in both business and in life is rising tides should lift all boats, which is why he hopes above all to do right by his team, his community, and the environment. Outside of growing while on coffee, Zach enjoys, loves to enjoy the outdoors through skiing, hiking, and camping. Absolutely love your progression and hear about all the awesome things you're doing now. Zach, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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02:08 – Zach Frantz

Yeah, let's do it.

02:09 – Gresham Harkless

Let's make it happen then. So I know I touched on it a little bit when I read your bio, but I wanted to rewind the clock. Hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

02:17 – Zach Frantz

Yeah. So, like, like you just read, I actually started my first business when I was 9. I was cooking, I was baking, and cooking a lot with my mom from a really early age. And I really, I love to make cakes. I think it's probably like the fat kid in me. And, I don't even know why I wanted to start a cake-making business. So this was like 1999. So I was born in 90. And there was a service from Yahoo called Yahoo GeoCities. Maybe some of your listeners remember this. I think it was the first drag-and-drop website builder ever. You can really just like using this creative website. And I started an e-commerce cake business where you could actually go on my website and you could order a cake.

If would send me an email you know, someone can buy a cake online. I only ever sold one cake to my neighbor, but that was the start of my journey. And since then, I've dabbled in other things. I've started a couple of other e-commerce businesses. But really, like, I've known really from the time I was 9 years old that I wanted to own my own business. This is what I want to do. And so for me, it's not even much about what the specific business is, although I do have to be personally passionate about it. For me, it's about solving customer problems. And it's about, I believe that there's like some very like right ways to do business. And I want to be like a model for how business can be a force for good in the world.

03:47 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I absolutely love that. And I love, as I was reading about your motto and everything that you stand for and how it kind of manifests itself in the business and the work that you do. But 2 words that really stuck out to me are one word and a phrase, journey and solving problems. And I think so many times we forget about the journey, whether we're building a business or just in our life in general, and how we're kind of planting those seeds, building those blocks towards where we are. It's not like you can kind of take away one part of your life from another. They're all kind of building towards where we end up eventually going in what we're building and growing. Robert Leonard

04:18 – Zach Frantz

Yeah. And the journey is so funny because, on Shark Tank, I think Shark Tank is probably the best thing for entrepreneurship maybe ever because now a lot of people want to do it. It might also be the worst thing because they make it seem so easy. It's like, what was the saying? It's like a 10-year overnight success.

04:36 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, 10 years of making overnight success. Yeah.

04:40 – Zach Frantz

And I mean, I'm in the part of my business right now. I don't remember who came. I think it was like Harvard Business Review. This is like a long time ago. They had like the journey of a business and like at first there's like a peak because you're really excited, you get some initial success and then you go down into the trough of disillusion, which is where like you think you're going to fail and everything sucks basically. And where I'm at in my business right now is I'm kind of in that tropic disillusion a little bit, where I had some early success and now it's like, okay, now things are getting a little tougher because you've got to scale.

But it is the journey. I think the more times you've done it, it makes you kind of know where you are on the journey. And so it's like, okay, this isn't the end of the world. Like we're going to make it through this, but you just have to get through some tough times. And there's always going to be tough times.

05:33 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. We start to realize that in business, but also in life in general, there are always those ups and downs. And I love, first of all, that you're talking about that because I think one of the things that I try to hammer home, especially on the show, is that journey, is that everything's not all sunshine and rainbows. And entrepreneurship is a lot more like that roller coaster ride.

And there's probably more downs, longer downs, than sometimes there are the highs. So you have to really cherish and appreciate those. So I appreciate you so much in talking about that because it's not said enough. I think that shows a lot. I wanted to hear a little bit more. You touched on your early success. Could you take us through a little bit more on what that looked like, what you're doing at Wildland Coffee, and how you're making that impact with the clients that you're working with?

06:15 – Zach Frantz

Wildland Coffee is a coffee company. We pack really tasty coffee, it's ethically sourced as well into tea bags. And like my bio mentioned, I do a lot of camping and I was using my French press And that was a very, for me, that's like way too much effort, but starting a business, that's fine. So I really felt like there was a big need in the outdoor community for like an easier way to make coffee.

And I'm solving a problem for myself basically, which is why, again, I'm so passionate because this is something that I'm experiencing. Our vision and our goal for the company is to be the coffee brand for the outdoor community. And that's, that's like, really what gets me up every single day is, is when someone is camping, hiking, RVing, backpacking, anything outdoors, I want them to think about Wildland Coffee as their go-to coffee brand.

07:14 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. No, I love that. And I think, as you kind of alluded to a lot of times through those, sometimes the great days, but sometimes the less than ideal days, you wanna make sure that you have your why firmly implanted and in place and to be able to create that solution that solves our own problems, but also a lot of people that were around as well. And so would you consider that to be what I like to call your secret sauce, the thing you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique? Is it that ability to, for one, you know, lean on that way, but 2, actually, you know, take that entrepreneurial leap and create something that, you know, isn't just a really great problem solver, but also something that makes a huge impact in so many different ways that you've been able to do?

07:52 – Zach Frantz

Yeah, I think what makes me different is, so I'll talk about what makes me different and then what makes the company different. So I think what makes me different is I have a very high risk tolerance. And if you want to be like an entrepreneur, your risk tolerance has to be pretty, pretty off the charts. I'm also just not afraid of failing. Like it just at this point in my life, if I fail at this, it's fine. Like I don't think I'm going to, of course, or else I wouldn't be doing it. But you just have to be okay, like putting in the money, the time, the hour sacrificing, you know, the night out with your buddies, like you have to be willing just to sacrifice all of that.

And I am, I'm, I'm willing to, to basically put everything else on the back burner and say, I'm going to make this happen no matter what. And if it doesn't happen, then like, you know, I learned a bunch and I'm going to, this is actually my second time doing a coffee company. And when I left, when I left my first coffee company, it was, it wasn't a great situation and my founder didn't get along. So I left and 3 months later I started this company. So you have to have a, like a short, as I say that, I think that's one of my strengths is I have a short memory. Like whatever happened, just forget about you. You just have to keep moving on. I would say like really what makes the company unique?

And I would say that there are a lot of things that make you unique. But one thing that I'm really trying to do is have a very genuine and conversational tone with the brand. In my opinion, a lot of companies, especially consumer companies, when I watch their ads or I go on the website, feel very stale. And it doesn't feel like there's a ton of personality. So when I'm writing copy or when I'm posting on Instagram, it's very just like I'm talking to my friends. I'm big on UGC.

I don't spend almost any money on content. I just take what people posted on their stories and I post it on my post. And I think that that resonates with people because it makes the brand seem more approachable and just more genuine. I don't have a very polished approach. It's more just like, hey, like, here's the brand, you want to be part of the story. Awesome.

10:04 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love that. And for anybody who's listening to UGC, user-generated content, correct? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I love that because I think that's where things have been moving where I always say we forget about like the human aspect of business and definitely the human aspect of life even sometimes too. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

10:30 – Zach Frantz

Yeah, there's probably a lot that I already that I do that other people have already mentioned on the podcast, you know, reading specific books or meditating. One thing that I think is really underrated is diet. I'm, I'm, I'm not like, super religious about my diet. You know, during, let me say this, during the week, I'm much more religious about what I eat because I notice that there is a direct correlation between what I eat how much energy I have, and how much I can focus. If I'm eating healthy, you know, vegetables, whole grains, fruits, staying away from alcohol, you know, drinking a lot of water, I just noticed that there's a huge impact on my, on my mental performance. So that's, that's something that I would definitely encourage other people to consider. Nice.

11:21 – Gresham Harkless

I love that. And I appreciate you sharing that.

11:24 – Zach Frantz

Yeah. And a lot of things I eat are inexpensive. So then I have money to spend on my business.

11:28 – Gresham Harkless

There you go. There you go. You put it right back in. I love that. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call CEO nugget. You might have already touched on this, but this is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. I like to say it might be something if you were to hop into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

11:44 – Zach Frantz

One of the things that I would tell myself and tell other people is when you're thinking about starting a business, be as specific as possible about who your target market is. Now this goes, a lot of people think, oh, like, well, if my market's small, then there's not as many people or I'm not going to be able to make as much money. The problem is, when you have a big market, then you are competing against in my world, let's say if I have a bigger market, now I'm competing against Starbucks.

If you have a clothing brand and you have a big market or you want to have a big market, now you're competing against Zara and H&M and et cetera, et cetera, Nordstroms. But if you niche down, now the people or the amount of competitors you have really starts to get smaller and you can start to really dominate a niche as opposed to trying to compete against the world's biggest companies, which inevitably you'll probably lose because they just have more money. So really niching down and being very, very specific is something that I would tell my younger self and I would tell other young entrepreneurs.

12:55 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love that. And I think so many times I'm glad you talked about a lot of times when we think about niching down, we don't realize that there is a big market even within that a lot of times and you can continue to kind of drill down. I want to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're holding out different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Zach, what does being a CEO mean to you?

13:15 – Zach Frantz

So for me, being a CEO is, it's literally everything. I work with some contractors, but for me, it's being the person who comes up with the vision. It's the person who comes up with the strategy. And I think in most cases, being a CEO is like, you're bringing the right people on board, you're making sure the right people are in the right position. You're working with your team to come up with a strategy and what the vision is. And then, you're leading the team. But for me, and I actually, don't even call myself like the CEO, I think we need to have some employees and things to be like a CEO.

So for me, like CEO slash founder, I mean, it's literally everything. If I'm not focused, if I'm not putting in the work, my company is going to fail. So, so for me, it's being a CEO means I'm, I have to do everything to make my company succeed. And I would say that's probably true of all CEOs. It's just the type of work that you're doing is going to transition as you have a bigger and bigger team.

14:16 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I appreciate you, you know, breaking that down. So what I wanted to do now was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best they can get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome things that you're working on.

14:28 – Zach Frantz

Yeah. The only last thing that I would say is I think in the history of the world, there's never been a better time to start a business. It's never been easier to market yourself, on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. It's never been easier to get good contractors, fiber, and Upwork. It's never been easier to get your business started. And right now, money is kind of cheap right now. So it's probably a little easier to get investment money right now than it would be at other times. So I would just always encourage people if you've been thinking about it, like now's an amazing time to pull the trigger. Good ways to get in touch with me, you can add me on LinkedIn, Zach, Z-A-C-H-F-R-A-N-T-Z, or you can email me at getwild@wildlandcoffee.co.

15:17 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, I truly appreciate you again, Zach, for all the awesome things that you're doing, and definitely will have your information in the show notes. But I think, as you said, sometimes we can be in a mindset of seeing what we don't have, seeing what we're lacking. But as you said so well, this is a perfect time because there are so many opportunities that are out there. If we have that abundance mind the opportunities and thin in front of us, that's what to lean into and get the ground running as you've truly appreciated you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

15:51 – Zach Frantz

Thanks, Prashtia.

15:52 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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