The First Customer - The Mastermind of Market Viability with CEO and Founder Marc Portney

[00:00:27] Jay: Hi everyone. Welcome to The First Customer podcast. My name is Jay Aigner. Today. I am lucky enough to be joined by Marc Portney. He is the CEO and founder and president of lots of different things. he's a TV show guys and investor. It's got the mouth of a sailor, which, you know, we're gonna have to stamp this with not safe for work probably.

But,I'm very excited, Marc. thanks for being on buddy. How are you? 

[00:00:49] Marc: I appreciate it, man. Not safe for work. Wow. We're getting right there. 

[00:00:53] Jay: I mean, look, it's going to be about work, but it's probably not something you play, you know, with your Bluetooth speakers, 

[00:01:00] Marc: I appreciate you having me, man. 

[00:01:02] Jay: You got it, brother. so Marc, you've got probably more stories than any guests that we've ever had on. You've got so much cool stuff on your backlog of things you've done. give me the snapshot version. Who's Marc? Where'd you grow up and did that have any impact on you being an entrepreneur?

[00:01:20] Marc: Oh, 100%. I was born in Queens, New York, as you can probably tell already from my accent. But, yeah, I was born in the, the city of New York. I grew up there for a bit and then, I moved out. But, even as a small kid, I, always had the entrepreneurial bug. So my father would, I would shine my father's shoes for a 25 cents each.

I saved up enough money for one of those, you know, the wooden thing that you stand on, you put your foot. So, I saved up for one of those and then I would just wait for my grandparents to come over and I would shine their shoes, whether they wanted it or not, you know, for, And, it just kind of started there.

The other thing is I'm a little bit of a rebel, so I really don't like anybody telling me what to do. So bosses suck. So I just, you know, all of that combined, I knew I was destined. I knew there was no hope for me, to be employed by somebody else. 

[00:02:15] Jay: It's an interesting. Thought, and I feel the same way, but I am curious bosses suck.

But as most business owners would probably tell you, you have lots of bosses. Those are your clients, right? So how do you interact with them is, I mean, I'm assuming it's just very authentic and what you see is what you get, but, It, how do you kind of navigate that? Right?

Like you've got to, you know, I don't give a shit kind of attitude, but at the same time, you still got to be nice enough and friendly enough and make relationships and partnerships with people to, run businesses and stuff. How do you kind of balance those two things? 

[00:02:48] Marc: No, I do. the boss, you know, you always have a boss.

and in, in your case, what you said properly was that your customers are your boss. So you never without a boss, but when I mean bosses suck or you guys, you know, go take a lunch for 30 minutes or go, over there, do this, do that, stand up straight when I'm talking to you. How about, fuck you.

How about that? And, you know, that lets me know that is the kind of thing that I'm talking about. You're always going to be, dealing with the customers. You're always going to be doing everything that you can. I'm relationship based. So everything I do is on the basis of a relationship. And, when it comes to the customers, I will do anything and everything I have to do to make sure that customer is not only satisfied, but understands that what you see is what you get.

I'm the real deal and I'll cut off a leg for you. But once you can establish that with a customer, He'll always have them. I mean, things do happen over time and I can certainly attest to that. But, you know, some, a lot of times I err to the side of being too loyal and, I ended up getting fucked for it.

But, you know, yes, the customer is always your boss and without the customers, you really have nothing. It's funny. I was once at a party and somebody says, Oh, well, you know, how do you do it? You can go out of business at any minute. And I said to them, listen, you're the one that's got one source of income.

If you don't, make those widgets or whatever it is that you're doing and they let you go, you're gone. I've got 150 customers. I've got 150 opportunities to make a living. Right. So if I lose a customer, which I never want to do, I still have 149 more customers that I can do. I'm more insulated than you.

You think I'm out there swinging wild but I'm not. you're the one that, you're the one that's got one guy or one woman source of income and you could be let go at any moment. So if anybody's at risk, it's you. 

[00:04:50] Jay: Right. 

[00:04:51] Marc: And don't get me wrong, being. In a career, and whatever it is, whether it be a police officer or anyone that, you can work for the same person over and get a pension.

[00:05:02] Jay: That's awesome, dude. Sometimes I'm really jealous of that, to be honest with you. No, that makes sense. all right. Well, I mean to get from your early, you know, queen's Location to today. I think you probably need like an autobiographer to like sit down and sketch all that out. But what was the first kind of real business you started, you know, into your adult kind of years?

what were you? what did you start? 

[00:05:31] Marc: Well at the beginning,Well, after the illegal stuff, we go right into the, let's go to the legal stuff. 

[00:05:38] Jay: Illegal is probably more relevant. I mean, we've all done, you know, look, we've had our moments, but yeah, legal. 

[00:05:44] Marc: I was a bad kid. I was a four year graduate of New York military academy.

So you and your listeners can fill in the blanks. you were either super wealthy or super bad and we weren't wealthy. So you could, you know, you can put all that shit together, but, I really started in the plant and flower business to be honest with you. I got sent there because my parents got divorced and my father didn't know what to do with me on the weekends.

So, across the street was a plant and flower store and I started working there at age 13 and then I started to pick that up. And, you know, I know this is called The First Customer. So I'll go into the first customer with you. So I go from there to a second location, to a second job. He stole me away a different plant and flower store for a dollar an hour.

I was making 50 cents. This guy was balling. He gave me a buck. So I said to the first guy, Hey man, see you later. Got to go. And, I was probably 16, 17 years old at the time. the guy starts off, he tells me, listen, you just sweep up, dude. You just sweep up, you clean up, you pick the yellow leaves, you water some plants, you do that.

Do not talk to customers. Do not talk to customers. I'm like, okay, man, whatever you want, as long as you're getting that, as long as I'm getting a dollar an hour, I don't give a shit what you want me to do. Right? So I did that. And then one night, I was the only employee downstairs. He was upstairs in the office, I guess, doing paperwork.

And, these two guys came in. I mean, you're talking. You're talking decades ago. I'm 61 years old now, almost 62, and I was probably 17 years old. So whatever that math turns out to be, that's what the math is. And, these two guys came in and they were looking for help. I looked around, I was sweeping up and nobody was there to help them.

I just helped them. and this is back in the day. I stacked up all this shit in the middle of the store, about 3, 500 worth of stuff, which is a phone number. Number one in that business. And number two, all those years ago. And the boss came down and he said, what's all this stuff in the middle of the store?

I said, Oh, well, I'm apologize. These two guys are walking around. I just helped them a little bit. He goes this, all of this. I go, yeah, all of this. He goes, okay, listen, no more sweeping. You're only going to talk to customers from here on in. And then from there,I just, I drank it, man.

I just drank the Kool Aid. It was unbelievable. I just, I got, I get off on selling. It's like heroin, man. It's unbelievable. That,the feeling of executing that sale on any level. Once you feel it and once you get it, you can't live without it. And that's kind of, my first, that was my real first cutting of my teeth in that regard.

[00:08:30] Jay: So you're selling for somebody else at that point. Is that the same feeling you get if you're selling it for yourself? 

[00:08:37] Marc: I did actually. I mean, I know that's not the right answer for everybody, but I just getting off on the sale was unbelievable. I didn't even know. Like yet, like what it was like to do it for myself.

I just loved it. I loved it for the execution, the manipulation, the win, the absolute win. You're wearing a,football hat right now. I mean, you get it when it comes to the winning, you know what I mean? So I just love the win. It was many years later before I started to understand what it was like to do it for myself.

But the answer is yes, I was as hot to do it for him as I was for myself 

[00:09:16] Jay: Now, did you go into sales after that? 

[00:09:19] Marc: Well, I went into entrepreneurship. I never stopped. this was a New Jersey corporation. I ended up owning the New York corporation of this same company. So I worked my way from the sweeper all the way to owning the New York corporation, which I did, which I turned around cause it was failing in New York state and I turned the whole thing around.

That's when I. started to really get an idea of like, yeah, man, this is unbelievable. 

[00:09:45] Jay: How long did you do that for?

[00:09:48] Marc: from age 13 in the first plant store, probably all the way through to my first kid was born and she's 35. So like, years and like, I mean, I was probably in my late 20s, early 30s, maybe so a long time.

[00:10:05] Jay: And what did you, so did you sell that when you got rid of it? Did you just leave? Like, how did you exit that business? 

[00:10:09] Marc: No, we ended up that the, that the landlord came in and, remember how many years ago this was, you needed 25, 000 a month in rent, 25, 000 a month. That was back 30 years ago. And I told him, listen, dude, partners are for dancing.

I don't need you as my partner. If you don't change this. I will shut this place down. Sir, sure. As you're standing there, he called my bluff. I shut it down and I did something else, man. 

[00:10:40] Jay: And what was the something else? 

[00:10:42] Marc: Something else was because I was in the floral business. I met this guy who used to deliver off our, floral roles actually to wrap the flowers.

And then I went there and he had an opportunity. it was a side business for him and then I took it over and made it a primary business for him and I and it was a paper business, but it was a recycled paper like so after they're done printing fabric with the paper, it still comes off and it's got a bit of a pattern on it.

I used to take that and convert it into wrapping paper. I would have been hailed a hero if it was for today because everybody's like recycling saved the planet. But back then people were like, oh, yeah, you're rolling garbage, dude. You're an idiot. So, you know, I would have been, carried off the field as a hero, but not back then.

So, I built that company up and then I ended up selling that company.

[00:11:36] Jay: so let's fast forward.tell me about Globalsource and like the TV show and like, when did all this stuff like start to kind of steamroll into like, just you being a guy with some pretty heavy credentials and some cool things after your name, you know, investor and all these different things.

Like when did that change happen? 

[00:12:02] Marc: Well, I mean, it's, you know, pretty heavy credentials is all in the eye of the beholder, dude. You know what I mean? everybody takes a dump and it smells like shit. Just remember that nobody's any better than anybody else. And nobody's smarter and nobody's dumber.

You know what I mean? It's just, People get tied up with themselves and they suck. So, you know, money changes a lot of people and you can, you know, the whole idea is to act as if you have 10 in the bank or 10 million in the bank and nobody can tell the difference. That's the mark, of a good person.

Is just being kind and being nice and I know that sounds like fruity horse shit, but it's not I'm being straight with you Helping people and doing things like that. I can't tell you jay How many people that I mentor how many people call me and I? Waste air quotes waste my time talking to them and just making sure that they're better After meeting me than they were before meeting me, but that turns me on dude that floats my boat Because nobody was there when I was younger to help me out.

There was no internet, there was no nothing. And when I had questions, You know, nobody had fucking answers for me. Nobody. and that's in business. That was in life. You know, the only thing I did, man, I was just like, Oh, so what do you do? Oh, you meet a girl. Okay. You get married. Okay. Now what do you do?

You have 2. 5 kids. Okay. Now what? Oh, you get a house with a white picket fence. Oh, okay. Whatever I could see on TV or whatever. That's what I thought you were supposed to be doing. No mentorship whatsoever. And, That's why I take it so seriously now because nobody was there to just give me and this isn't a fucking wow story.

I'm not crying like a bitch. I'm just saying that no, nobody was there, you know, and I want to make it so that somebody is there. somebody could help. somebody can give you at least some words of advice or not get caught in the same mousetrap that I got caught in, you know?

That's kind of what I do. So the TV show was a pretty, pretty simple. I knew an executive producer. He liked my style because it was a no bullshit style. And, I just, I did what I do in real life. I just did it on television. So we had three seasons out of it. It was called all American makers and, it was on science discovery channel.

[00:14:17] Jay: And, we got, I think 19 or 21 episodes. I don't remember, but, that's how many episodes we had. And, it was, pretty cool. And, Did they run out of bleeps? Did they have enough bleeps in the bank? 

[00:14:28] Marc: No, they tried At the beginning, they tried to make me white bread and mayonnaise.

They tried to just, like, fuckin whitewash me. And I turned to the guy and I was like, Listen, man, dump me. I said, because if I can't be me, then you don't need me. Just put some fucking vanilla asshole in there. Just do it. You don't need me. Fuck out of here. I don't give a shit about being on television. So they were like, no, we want you.

I said, well, then you got to loosen up a little bit and let me, you know, so I was somewhere in the middle, but it still wasn't good enough for me. But, You know, I, yeah, so that, that's really, 

[00:15:02] Jay: I figured it would sound like like they were playing like Morse code or something with all the bleeps that would probably be on.

[00:15:08] Marc: I was a really, a pretty good boy. Yeah. So that was that. And, you know, so, and,as far as Globalsource infrastructure started, I was in the floral import business. It went from the flower shop to the paper to an importing business for floral supplies. And I built these guys business and I took a piece of it.

this was in Brooklyn and, that taught me the import game. And once I learned the import game, then once these guys and I were finished, they got greedy. And, look the gift horse in the mouth, then I had a Globalsource, infrastructure partners and I actually sourcing and procurement for companies and different things like that.

So I started to, at the beginning of this interview, we talked about relationships. Well, I've got relationships in China that they would, factory owners would fly in for my children's weddings, you know, they would, you know, I would go there and I would spend time with them and their families. They stayed in my home for holidays, things like that.

So that my, relationships with second to none over there and still are. I still know the same guys for 25, 30 years. and that's, how that all started. the import business, because I was familiar with importing from the floral supply business 

that spilled over to the Globalsource.

[00:16:28] Jay: yeah,So just so, like, Joe Blow can know, what does import business really mean? Like, from just a high level 

[00:16:38] Marc: Importing business means, so you take this pen, somebody's got a pen and they go, Listen, I'm paying 50 cents for this pen, I need 10, 000 pens, but can you get me a better price out of China?

Right. So I go, I take the pen, I bring it to my guys. We, and we try to find, I come back and I go, listen, we could do this pen for 28 cents, but you got to buy 12, 000 of them. And then you make your decisions. But if you're selling the pens at a dollar, because you were buying them at 50 cents, you will be able to do two things.

Either a bring your price down a little bit. Or sell it for the same dollar and make a lot more money, but or a combination of both, right? So that's really a very simplistic version of what we do So, you know the and we do everything from soup to nuts over there like literally everything we don't like soft goods, which is closed because of the return factor and the sizes and the colors and all that stuff, but Other than that, we basically do everything I could do soft goods if we wanted to, but I've elected not to do it.

So, that's what the import business, 

[00:17:44] Jay: Who are your customers today? Like retailers and stuff. Is that who you're procuring stuff for? 

[00:17:50] Marc: I've had very large retail customers. Some of them have gone out of business. I have,a lot of B2B customers, business to business. some are components that they bring in these components and put them into something else, like, you know, a part of, I don't know, a hand cart.

[00:18:06] Jay: And, then they take the wheels and they add it to the cart domestically inside the country. And then they do that. But, so. You know, it's businesses and it's retailers and it's, it's basically every, all of above, all of them.who was your first customer for the global sort of like, what, after you split out on your own, after your partners left, who was your first customer?

[00:18:33] Marc: My first customer was a customer that I had in the floral supply business because I was in the seasonal business. So, you know, all the stuff that you decorate your house with like glitter ornaments and things like that for Christmas, I would bring that in. And I did a lot of that. What they did was because of the relationship that I had with the customers, they all went with me.

Didn't stay where they were because they didn't know anyone. They only knew me and they, and I serviced them and I went out to dinner with them and I sent them Christmas cards and I all the above. And when I went to them and I said, listen, I'm going to start this thing on my own. You know, would you come with me?

They say, Marc, we only buy from you. It's not the name of a company. It's you, of course, we're going with you and that's exactly what happened. So I know that's not a great first customer. 

[00:19:29] Jay: No, it's a great, it is a perfect for it. it's exactly what I hear a lot. and I think it's a great answer.

it's relationships. It's relationships that you built. 

[00:19:39] Marc: Relationships is the basis of everything that we're talking about, everything, whether it be in your personal life, whether it be in your business life, it's all about relationships and long term relationships. And how do you not talk about today and look back?

Towards tomorrow. And that's really what this whole thing is. my wife and I met she was 16. I was 17. I'm 62. She's 60. So that could soon to be 62. So that'll give you an idea. It's long term. Other thing, you know, not everything is important as it was at the beginning when you were young buck, the same things aren't important as was back then as is today.

So it's a long term relationship. And that's my marriage. But in business, I've had customers. I've had the same customer for 30 years. in the wreath business. and same ones. I go out there, we go to dinner. the whole thing. And you know, that's the basis of the relationships, whether it be personal business or what have you.

and you'll see, hopefully you can rely on those relationships later down the road. if push ever comes to shove, sometimes it works out and sometimes you take it in the bunghole. 

[00:20:59] Jay: That is the perfect segue to my last question. Not really. It's not a good segue at all, it's not a good segue.

non business related, if you could do anything on earth and you knew you couldn't fail.

[00:21:12] Marc: I'm going to smack you from left field, dude. You're not even going to know, you're not even going to see this one coming. I'm going to answer the question super honest. I've never said this out loud. I know for a fact I could crush as a standup comic. I know for a fact it is my single largest regret on planet earth.

How about that? 

[00:21:34] Jay: Oh, breaking news from the, about that dude, first customer talking. 

[00:21:37] Marc: I never said it out loud to anybody. 

[00:21:39] Jay: I mean, as somebody who I would imagine says just about everything they think out loud. I appreciate you saving that for me, a comic. I feel like I've heard that a couple times I think, and it's, if you know, you can kind of crush.

Like in certain situations, I feel like it's always like in the back of your mind that like you think you could do it but I love that answer 

[00:21:57] Marc: here's my angle on it Is that I do personal stand up comedy routines for everyone that I talk to on the phone in essence to sell them. So what I do is I make them laugh and then I execute the sale.

Yeah. What do you do as a standup comic? You stand up there, you make everybody have a great time. And at the end of the day, they don't mind spending the money on the tickets or what have you, or buying your album or whatever it is. It's the same shit, except mine's situational. So you talk to me about something.

I'm able to take that. that item and talk about it right then and there, whatever it is. So I'm very situational. I don't know how I would be getting up and doing a set routine. Yes. It wouldn't be so set, but it would be, you know, shit about my wife and shit about all the other stuff that, their comics talk about, but.

Dude, I know for a fact that they don't have anything on me. They, 

[00:22:50] Jay: well, it's not too late. It's not too late. You still could be. 

[00:22:53] Marc: Everybody says that it's not, 

[00:22:54] Jay: I mean, you know, you're the only one saying it's too late. It's not too late. you're a funny guy. I think you could do it. 

[00:22:58] Marc: I'm shrive nuts, that's why.

[00:22:59] Jay: Well, you know, I mean, that's, I don't know. I don't think that, yeah. Well, I think you could get over it. All right, Marc, you're fantastic. I really do appreciate knowing you and I think you're, A very small hand, you know, handful of super genuine, super real people that I know. And I've had not known you that long, but, I was going to say, I'll come up for the giants game, but I think we already played you guys there.

You're coming here on Christmas, not you, but the giants are coming here for Christmas. So, we'll have to get out. 

[00:23:28] Marc: If anybody wants to, if anybody wants to reach out, it's Marcportney. com M A R C P O R T N E Y dot com. And, just reach out. There's places to submit your inventions. There's places to, look for sourcing, mentoring, the whole nine yards.

So if anybody wants to reach out and give me a stand up comedy gig, I'm all in. 

[00:23:47] Jay: I think we could probably do that. All right. Well, Marc, you're fantastic. People will look you up and, I thank you for being on, bro. Let's talk again soon. All right. 

[00:23:54] Marc: Thanks Jay. I really appreciate it. Thank you, man.

[00:23:56] Jay: Thank you, buddy. See ya. 

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