I’m Going Out of Business – This is Hard
Hey it's Brock here from Rock Hill Farms And this is a video that I really didn't Want to make If you read the title and you're Wondering if this is Click bait It most definitely is not And It's something I've spent the last Couple weeks deciding if I wanted to Publish this in a video Because this is a very large Public failure Is the way I would describe it and I really I wouldn't have to say anything But Really I would describe right now my Full-time job is A video content creator That's what I spend the most time doing And I guess it's what pays me the most Money So I think to do that and to have people Follow you on that journey of you know Sharing your life through video The most important thing you can do is Be real and honest And that's not an easy thing to do So it's easy to celebrate your successes In front of an audience it's really hard To share your failure But It's just real I think probably most People watching this have had some
Failure in life and before I really tell The story I also want to say that when I Made a video anything like this in the Past tend to get a lot of comments Saying I'm complaining and the like the Mood and my energy that's coming across Is really low and and down and it's how I'm feeling at the moment But in general I feel like the most blessed person on Planet Earth I feel like throughout my entire life I've gotten more than I deserve if you Follow Dave Ramsey for instance when he Is asked How are you doing he always says better Than I deserve And I've never connected with a Statement more than that like everything In life I feel like I always End up with more than I deserve so in General in life I'm very grateful But You know when I'm discussing something Like this I'm not going to try to put a Positive spin on it I'm just going to Tell it exactly how it is So For the people who really follow this Channel you know that I have a business Where I manufacture a product in this Shop I've told that full story in the past That my history is long time factory
Worker I repaired machines that made products And you know that was fine and I did That for 18 years And then I wanted to do something of my own I Wanted to start a business but I Couldn't figure out what to do and I Spent a few years trying to figure out What could I do that would be my own Business I wanted to be self-employed I Came up with an accidental product that Solved a problem a real problem for People and The best businesses in the world I Believe solve problems And In this case my son played baseball and He was on a traveling team That didn't have a place to practice Or you know we could have places to Practice but those where we were Practicing didn't necessarily have a Pitching mound and when you went to Baseball games you wanted to warm your Pictures up but they didn't have a mound To warm up on and so I thought wouldn't It be great if I made us a portable Pitching mound that we could take with Us and it was easy to transport So I designed this product First I looked online and no one was Selling anything like that And so I designed the product
And I posted it in some Facebook groups And there was this massive reaction of People saying they wanted one literally Hundreds of people tried to buy Something from me that I'd only made one Of and really I didn't even figure I figured out what I wanted it to be I didn't know how to Build it my Dad figured out how to build It And I saw that reaction and I literally Thought this could be my thing I could be the person who builds these And sells them so I started taking Orders almost immediately And We didn't know what we were doing but And we didn't know how to build so We're building this product out of Sheets of plywood And processing a lot of sheets of Plywood was Like kind of a daunting thing you know How do you how do you get the Get that much plywood into your shop how Do you efficiently cut it up and my Father and I Worked through all the challenges and Figured out how to build this product in A quick and convenient we found a way to Do it and make it At a price that we could make a profit At and we started selling the product And I learned through that I had to
Learn how to build a website I had to learn how to market the product How to run ads for it There were a million things that we had To figure out And it just grew and grew and grew To the point where I left my job and I Took an enormous leap of faith doing That I wasn't selling enough product to Afford to leave my job it really put my Family in financial distress And I did it anyway And then after a period of time that Basically paid off and worked Through the volume of sales but then it Was I couldn't build it all myself and We we split it off my dad Cut the parts and I turned it into the Product And Cutting the parts you know I prove I got The plywood to him and he cut the parts And then everything else in the business Was something I handled and It was an enormous blessing And it was a huge success in a lot of Ways And we've been doing this for six years I've sold 13 000 portable pitching Mounds Never would have dreamed that would Happen But there are a lot of difficulties in Building a small business
Any type of small business whether you Want to open a restaurant or start a YouTube channel or build and sell your Own product And I didn't know how to do everything that I needed to know how to do And I was relentless and worked 24 7 on It Building Product customer service Selling product sourcing materials Pricing advertising website Trying to find a way to ship 100 to 150 pound product without Breaking it without spending a lot on Shipping without making the packaging Bigger Trying to make it where it was an Affordable option for the customer which Was very important to me And Felt like we worked through so many Things and we found so many Creative Solutions my dad designed and built a Panel saw That allowed us to process Lumber He also designed a pocket hole drilling Station that's pretty incredible I've Done videos on both of those I designed We we came out with a pro version that Was covered in rubber instead of turf And I designed a cutting station for That rubber with a series of jigs that Allowed us to not measure or Mark and Just cut all our our rubber Parts there
Were a lot of things I was really proud Of And as it grew I ended up with Employees and that presents another set Of challenges and then it's layers of Taxes and insurance And it's the responsibility for those Employees That In the spring and summer I really needed Eight people here And in the winter I only needed three I mean how do you these are real people How do you deal with that are you laying People off reducing everyone's hours Building inventory which is very Expensive Just a lot of challenges and a lot of The customer service as it grew the Customer service becomes overwhelming And Had the option So there there are breaking points There's a point where you can't afford Someone to do your customer service But it's hard to manage yourself Same thing with Your bookkeeping And your marketing like I couldn't it Was very difficult for me to be good at It myself but we weren't big enough to Hire somebody to do it And came down to this has been a very Difficult decision I've had trouble
Making for the last year That Sourcing materials has been harder All of the costs are going up On all of the components I'm paying Tremendous amounts of insurance and Taxes Or all the different types of payroll Tax and unemployment tax and those types Of things And I don't feel like I can justify raising The prices enough To make this continue to be profitable Now in the meantime I started something Else which is this YouTube channel And doing work for people And I really I love doing that And I hate Doing the customer service for this Business And All of So I've been telling people that I'm Full-time on YouTube because I don't Build this product in this shop I don't Stand here all day and build this Product But People call in from work Supplies don't show up and I have to Drive around Two states away to find them locally I invest a lot of time still in this
Business And having the there's been a lot of Problems with shipping where the Shipping carriers just lose the product The product's three foot wide In both directions weighs 100 150 pounds And they just say well we lost it Shipping insurance has been a real Nightmare Um It's just hard And one reason I feel like a failure Right now Is because part of it is I feel like a decision I'm making that Is maybe even lazy and irresponsible Because probably the right thing to do Is to pour every Ounce of my heart and soul into this Business Because this business is generating Tremendous Revenue we sell a lot of Pitching mounds and they're not cheap And there it feels like the right thing To do is pour my heart and soul into This and work 16 18 hours a day like I did at the Beginning Because this could be fixed And I have not executed this business at A high enough level And at some point well about two weeks Ago I made the decision to shut this Business down
And The first thing we did was we listed the Product is no longer for sale And then we've spent the last two weeks Shipping all of the products that were Sold and everyone who bought a product Has received it and we're not taking Orders And it gave my people a few weeks Runway To find other jobs And that was the most difficult part as I feel like Those people who've worked in here for The last few years are my family A couple of them literally are my family But I feel like all of them are my Family and I feel like I've let them Down And it's uh That's pretty tough Again I feel really blessed to have Built this Building this has given me the lifestyle That I'm I'm living which is that I wake Up every day and get to do something I Enjoy doing I still work really hard I work really hard at producing video Content because that's really time Consuming And it I work on maintaining this property And I've got some other responsibilities But
I feel like I failed the people who Worked here And That's a tough pill to swallow So the bright sides to this is what I Really enjoy doing Is working Outdoors Doing work for people And making these videos so I am now so a Lot of people I follow some channels That did announcement videos announcing That they were going full time on YouTube And Mike Morgan Uh Kelly's Country Life tractor time With Tim Those arms family Homestead Tony's tractor Adventure these are People who are full-time on YouTube this Making YouTube videos is all they do And I want that to be all I do but I Actually I'm not really getting paid Enough yet From YouTube for that to be all I do and To afford the equipment I have So Now I'm only doing that so what that means On a positive note is I can do that with My whole heart And invest the time in it that it Deserves so normally what I would do on A daily basis is come out here first
Thing in the morning and ask everyone How it's going and what problems need Solved and then go through all my emails Read all the voicemails and Facebook Messages that I had of people who were Upset with their delivery timeline on Their pitching mound had a problem after They received it or were asking Questions about ordering one And then it was checking to see what are We out of and then it was is uh Everybody coming into work do I need to Fill in for anyone and what problems do I need to solve and I would spend about Half my day doing that and then I would Switch into Making YouTube videos And now It's going to be a weight off my Shoulders that I don't have to spend Half my day doing the other things And the other benefit that it didn't Even hit me at first Is I now have a 30 by 50 heated and Cooled concrete floor shop That doesn't have a function right now Which means it can be anything I want it To be And I need to put a focus on making money Outside of YouTube With the equipment that I have that is Firewood that is tractor work it might Be custom woodworking with my father
So he I think the back half of this shop Is going to be set up With all of the woodworking equipment I'm probably going to build A lumber drying area in here And then I'll probably Park my tractor And skid loader inside this building I've got automatic doors So I can drive in here park them keep Them out of the elements prevent theft And I can also Have both of those things happening I Think I could also have a lot of room For things like rebuilding the model A Park that in here and you know sand on It and paint and rebuild and All my equipment maintenance and all That can now be done in a heated and Cooled shop Um A lot of positives But it doesn't feel like a positive and For the last two weeks I've really been Struggling with My confidence and motivation because all I feel like is a failure Um but Then I have to remind myself I'm getting to do what I love to do I'm and I I'm getting to do what I enjoy Doing every day So it's a tremendous Amount of things to be grateful for the Number one thing I'm grateful for is the
People who follow my channel I'm amazed I can't put into words how good it feels To see the comments from the same people All the time and know that those people Enjoy what I'm doing So I know this This has been very personal it's been Hard for me to talk about and I imagine A lot of viewers going why do we need to Hear all this well Um it's just real life And I thought I would share it with you So Hopefully I'm gonna have more time and I'm gonna be able to invest more energy Into making better videos I appreciate You guys taking time to follow the Channel I'll put links on the screen to A couple more of our videos and I'll see You next time
