Life Lessons from Barstool’s $550 Million Acquisition

This week on Turning Pro, we were joined by Cael Schwartz. Cael runs growth and brand at Mugsy, a fast-growing Shopify brand that is redefining men's clothes for the modern guy. Before joining Mugsy, Cael was the Head of Consumer Brand Strategy at Barstool Sports and the Head of Product & Growth at Birddogs.

Find Episode 29 of the Turning Pro Podcast with Cael Schwartz on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube!

The Top 10 Highlights from this week’s episode:

1. There are no rules in entrepreneurship, so don’t be afraid to try different approaches in running your business. It’s not the corporate world – be creative and find unique ways to position your brand.

2. Be multidimensional: Use knowledge from many different fields to expand your toolkit. People think that they can only apply a narrow range of skills in their work, but in reality the most successful entrepreneurs can make connections most people wouldn’t even think of – like theater and Facebook Ads.

3. If you meet A+ talent but don’t immediately know where they’ll fit on your team, hire them anyway. You can figure out the exact part they’ll play later on.

4. Lead with authenticity to stand out in the sea of copy-and-paste content. It may feel uncomfortable in the beginning, but people love to feel connected, and if they can relate with you, they can also relate to your brand.

5. If you feel stuck, take the leap of faith. In life, you only get so many opportunities to pursue what you’re passionate about. If you’re doing something, but feel like your calling is somewhere else, answer it. 

6. Avoid falling into long periods of routine. It’s important to have your non-negotiables, but finding a way to change up your surroundings, like working in a different area or adding something new to your schedule, will keep life interesting even if you’re super busy. 

7. Make your A’s into A+’s and find someone else to do your C’s for you. A jack of all trades is a master of none, but if you hone your best skills and build a team of others who have done the same, there’s no ceiling to what you can accomplish. 

8. Get good at distinguishing between buyers who are ready to go now and the ones who aren’t quite there yet. If someone isn’t ready to buy, it doesn’t matter how well you market to them. Spend time working directly with the ones who are ready and building rapport with the ones who aren’t yet.

9. Do the things that interest you, don’t focus purely on the money. Not everything you do has to be work, it’s important to have a creative outlet where you can express yourself. And who knows, people may end up liking it so much that you could monetize it anyway.

10. Embrace chaos as the catalyst for growth. When times are uncertain, many people focus on what’s going wrong around them, when they should instead look for the opportunities just below the surface.

Subscribe to the podcast here to be notified about future episodes.