Episode 15
August 18, 2020

Donuts, Drive, and Distribution

With Luke Peters, Founder and CEO of NewAir

About this episode

NewAir makes unique appliances that make your life more fun. Think wine coolers, beer coolers, ice makers, along with a bunch of other heating and cooling products. NewAir is featured in the leading retailers such as The Home Depot, Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, and many more. In this episode, Luke Peters, Founder and CEO of NewAir, shares with us how he started the company with his wife out of their garage 19 years ago and grew the business to become America's most trusted brand in compact appliances.

This episode is sponsored by

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In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

  • How growing up in Southern California included lots of siblings, the beach, and hard work at his parents’ donut shops
  • How a successful pool business paid his way through college and then became the first “exit” of his entrepreneurial career
  • His first out of college employment as a hazardous waste scientist
  • How his younger brother’s success with an online business sparked curiosity and a pathway toward starting his own successful business
  • How his interest in SEO and popular search terms led to the discovery of the potential in portable air conditioner sales
  • How Newair went from operating in his parents’ garage to the large facility they are in today
  • Why Luke believes that having great people on your team is one of the best things you can do for your company
  • How learning from mistakes and working through challenges such as tariffs and growing pains has lead them to be stronger than ever and has now set them up to diversify and grow even more
  • Why building leaders within your company is key to a healthy and vibrant company culture and a thriving work environment
  • What he has learned along the way and advice he has for other entrepreneurs who want to change the world

To Find Out More:

NewAir.com 

Quotes:

“Build in that leadership so that you don't just hit a wall, which some companies can definitely do because then they haven't built those competencies into their team.”

“Luckily, I've got a great group of friends. I'm in a really good CEO group, and I've got a bunch of other CEO friends. Having a network is huge.”

“I think having good guidance, and a great group of friends and mentors helped me, and I definitely would advise everybody to grab onto some good mentors.”

“Truly, we need to be a best place to work because otherwise, we can't attract the best people.”

“Marketing overall, it's not just social, it's also thinking about SEO and organic ranks and how you're going to rank on your retailers if you are selling through channels.”

“What I like about selling into these retailers is they're advertising for you. They're branding for you.”

“Build relationships, build your brand.”

“When you're an entrepreneur, you're going to have to deal with a lot of anxiety and stress. So people have to be able to deal with that.”

“You don't have to be one type of person to be an entrepreneur.”

“I think, as a CEO, probably the most important thing is being a good decision-maker, being curious, having a very open mind about things because the more we know that we don't know things, the better.”

“Everybody's talking about how we can make change in the world, change in diversity, in all of these different aspects. And I truly believe being an entrepreneur is a great place where young people should be looking. Because you can make a lot of changes as an entrepreneur.”

“When you start your day, think about what you're going to create instead of what you're going to consume.”

Read the transcript

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