Mm-hmm.

And I, I was like, "I don't kn- you know, I, I have no idea what that means." So he's like, "What number would make you happy for how much money that you're gonna make in this world?" And I was like, I'd never, never in my wildest dreams did I ever hit, like, six figures.

So I was like, "I'd love to make $100,000." Mind you, this was a, you know, a while ago.

100,000 ain't what it used to be [laughs] anymore.

You know, he was like, "So you hit 100,000 and you're just gonna be ultimately happy and like that?" He was like, "Yeah.

That's more money than I ever made in my entire life." He's like, "That's the wrong answer if you wanna have a sales, a career in sales." He's like, "You generally have to be like how do I get to 150? How do I get to 200? How do I get to 250?" So it's never really being okay with, again, this is like one of my, you know, you know, when, when I got interviewed with you, Sonal, it was, you know, yeah, I could celebrate a win today, but it's, it's basically just building a foundation of how we're gonna move to the next state.

It's like, "Okay, that was great.

Yeah

How does one get into working with mattresses?

I used to be in the metals industry before I worked for Naturopedic, and it was very cutthroat, and there was a lot of pressure to succeed.

And I'm a dad, and at that point in time, I was really looking for some sort of a career shift.

I wanted to feel good coming into work every day.

Just so happens that at that point in time, Naturepedic was hiring.

And I was like, well, you know, it's organic.

Like, it's got to be a great place to work.

saw it with his eye.

Yeah.

Yeah, site location is probably the biggest one.

Uh, I mean, we've got our, our, you know, it's pretty plug and play, uh, in terms of, like, getting a store up and running for us now, which is great.

Got that figured out.

Site selection takes forever, and you gotta pick the right spot.

You gotta...

You know, I would recommend to anybody looking to open up retail stores, don't take the word of anyone who is, you know, if you're working with a, a consultant, not that they're not doing a lot of research.

So how do you do it?

Mm-hmm.

So that's why I have two older ones and two younger ones.

I was a single father for about three years roughly before, you know, my, my now wife and I moved in together.

And, um, it was trying to work a full-time job and raise a three-and-a-half-year-old and a three-month-old where probably two days a week they would be at their mom's who lived with her mother.

Um, and then I had my kids at least four to five days a week.

And, um, was one of the hardest things that I've ever done, but it was also the best thing that I ever di- did.

I think, you know, like, I can be fun dad.

Can you name some of your products that would be of interest to parents?

So I asked Aaron how Naturepedic approaches that concept in their products and what to look for.

Breathability for baby especially has been so, it's ingrained.

You know, again, you have this new baby, you wanna do everything you can to protect it.

And at Naturopedic, we create breathability more of just like, it's just another added benefit.

You put your hand on a waterproof crib mattress for about five seconds, it starts to get a little sweaty.

So having that breathable cover allows the airflow to go around that baby So they actually, they get better REM sleep.

And actually on average, it's probably like an extra hour of sleep they get every single night of just not sleeping so hot.

I started by asking about whether firmness matters.