Kenny Morgan: Every entrepreneur faces challenges, but it's how you navigate those challenges that defines your success. Riley Stricklin, Co-founder and former CEO of Lume Cube has spent a decade turning innovative ideas into million-dollar successes. Now, as he steps into the world of AI, Riley's journey continues to inspire.

Riley Stricklin: If you can get to know yourself and listen to that intuition we've all got some sort of gut aspect that if there's a decision, should I or shouldn't I like you can certainly rationale and use the mind, but ultimately make that decision with your gut and your intuition of what feels right. It will guide you the right way.

Kenny Morgan: Stay with us. Riley's insights might be just what you need to hear today. Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of Fulfilled in Five. Today's guest is Riley Stricklin He is an entrepreneur He's previously served as the Co-founder and CEO of Lume Cube. I think that was for about 10 years He's had some products that have well surpassed million-dollar months He's even had products featured in the Oval Office, which I saw all the way to the president's desk, which is pretty cool.

Not many people can say that. Had stuff featured on today's show and now serves as a board member, shareholder, and advisor. He's left to pursue some new business ideas. I read specifically around like AI wants to travel with his wife, which sounds like perfect timing. Cause he's got, his first kiddo coming here pretty soon.

Call San Diego home, but I guess one question just a fun question. I know travel was in your sights. Have you been able to do that?

Riley Stricklin: Yeah. Yeah. We spent the last four months or from February through June doing a lot of travels and our favorite one of which was we spent about a month in Europe.

So going through Spain and France, which was just unbelievable. So that's awesome. Yeah.

Kenny Morgan: Did you catch any of the Olympics while you're there? Yeah.

Riley Stricklin: We didn't know we left just before, but we saw the kind of set up and I don't know all of the excitement. It was definitely, a lot of energy in that space around leading up to it, which was fun.

Kenny Morgan: That's awesome, man. Just if you could briefly just tell us a little bit about your journey and just where like how all that brought you to where you're at today.

Riley Stricklin: So 30, 000 foot, 2014 two buddies and I started a Kickstarter campaign for what at the time was just a light for a GoPro and iPhone.

And was set 50 grand as a goal. Wasn't really sure if it was going to have a fit did two 50 and 30 days, hit that goal in three days, which was epic. Then this was at the time when iPhones were just crushing photo and video and GoPro had just IPO. So really was able to ride a lot of those coattails.

And that just turned into, we were doing a couple other consulting things on the side, but it was like, Hey, holy moly. We're doing 10 grand, 20 grand a month on these other projects that just did 250 grand in a month. Let's recalibrate and focus on that. So brought that to market really kicked off in early 2016 as a GoPro light for photo, video, iPhones and did a couple million bucks in the first year.

Had a lot of success and just scaled from there. A lot of different evolutions of the business made, got an Apple stores best buys across the country. Really focused on the GoPro market, the iPhone accessory market, and when drones were big, that became a big part of our business attachments to drones.

And then we're sitting there a couple million bucks a year pre-COVID in 2019 and launched. What at the time was a huge flop at CES 2019, which was a light for Zoom calls. January 2019 people did not get it. We brought in 20, 000 units. We sold about 2000 had 18, 000 units going into 2020, which was just like, all right, get these things off the books.

Three months later, COVID happened in that that year we scaled 550 percent in the business, those 18, 000 units that were sitting for a year sold in 22 days, it gave the business a really amazing opportunity to grow. And so got into the eight figure range and allowed us to build the team, reinvest in a lot of products, open new markets.

And so just really capitalize both on, on that home office lighting, which is a huge component of the business today, but really where we benefited most was obviously content just became a big thing. So yes, the short form Tik-Tok, but a lot of people transitioned into being creators, YouTubers, things like that.

And no matter what camera you're using, your content's going to suck if you don't have great lighting. And so we were positioned as the leader in lighting there. So it was a really amazing opportunity. I think we did a lot of things well, but you can't. Help, but state that there's a lot of macro impact that put us at the right place at the right time.

And job of any entrepreneur is to be a little bit opportunistic and see those opportunities. And so ultimately scale that business. It's still a nice eight figure year business. Got a team here in San Diego and Florida. For for me over the years as my interest transitioned, we've got a great senior team there is running the business.

And so found an opportunity for myself to pursue some new interests. And so in January, at the end of January here in 2024, stepped down as CEO still on the board, still under advisor, but very proud of what we've done with the business and I can tell you, they've got a lot of cool stuff in the pipeline coming down the road.

Great business. And I've had, had an opportunity to explore some new paths, which has been really fun.

Kenny Morgan: That's awesome, man. It's almost like, Prophetic how on point you guys were before their COVID hit. So that's just really cool to see.

Riley Stricklin: I wish I could say, I claim to have that vision, but it was the right place, right time.

And we, certainly got lucky. And I think in any, great story, there's a little bit of luck involved.

Kenny Morgan: That's so true. So true. I've always fascinated by routines of people that have found some success, so tell me a little bit maybe what your routine was when you were with Lume Cube, but even, I know it's a different, set of focus when you step off to do something new, like where you had a lot of distractions before, but now you have almost a wide-open pathway to do whatever you want.

Riley Stricklin: So for me over the years, where I found looking back on it, I don't even think I appreciated at the time how much noise and responsibility there is running a business if I ever wanted to solve a problem nature's kind of my energy zone. So wife and I, a quick weekend getaway, go hiking live here in San Diego.

Traveling is where I would find myself thinking and opening my mind differently. But on the daily routine, that's something I've honed a lot in these last few months. So that was a big part of reestablishing clean slate moving forward. Spending a lot more time reading and consuming positive content, me limiting time on social media has been really massive.

And I use an app called Root you can set timers and it's, really great physical health and wellness has been, massive. I think we'd feel good physically. There's a huge transition to mental aspects. Just getting your heart rate up a couple times a week, whether that's gym, jogging, going for a surf, probably the biggest aspect of recent has been sauna four days a week just to, really cleanse the body.

Morning gym routine, get up, up at five, go to a workout, get a nice cup of coffee. And by, by eight o'clock, you're sitting there ready to go and have accomplishments out of your belt has been really massive for me.

Kenny Morgan: You're like a friend that I would hang well with because I, some of my most creative times have been out outdoors.

I've been to Yosemite a few times actually, and now it's just big pivotal seasons in my life,

Riley Stricklin: It's the best, it really is. You're in a good spot for that. Anytime I'm trying to crack a problem that I just can't seem to solve. Find a flight, find a, find somewhere to go and just kinda. Your mind just thinks differently. There's something about it. That's almost a stinctual. It's you put humans in nature and it goes back to the early days and it's awesome.

Kenny Morgan: So true. We talked about this kind of earlier. Just, talk about sometimes with any great, story, great business, there's a little bit, a lot.

It sounds like not only with a Lume Cube being the head of the game, zoom lighting, you guys also, I think found a rhythm of. Pivoting to when GoPro was popular and then it wasn't so popular you had some good moments where you shifted. So just talk about what inspires you to keep pushing forward even during the tough times.

Riley Stricklin: Yeah, it's I think that if I would say, was there one key superpower that we had at Loom Cube was our ability to pivot. I've seen many entrepreneurs be challenged because your role is the visionary, and so you can be married to a vision that for us ‘Hey, we're going to be the GoPro of lights’.

And at some point if that isn't working out or if GoPro isn't, quite the aspect, like you got to explore other avenues. And I would say that the key to scale for us was opening up new markets and going into spaces that. Originally would have been like we're not that company, but can we be in the home office and compliment the Logitech products and not just go, can we be, now we have a huge division that goes into artist studios who are using light for tattoo artists esthetician, that's a seven-figure division for us.

Things that early days wouldn't, be there. So just as an entrepreneur and as a leader, being very. Being that visionary and selling that to the team and really getting everybody involved, but also just to yourself being a little bit malleable on that vision and accepting that, Hey, this vision is a work in progress.

It's not a remnant stone thing more like written in the sand that, Hey, that can a year from now, the more we know that vision might change a little bit and there's not any. to saying, Hey, the vision I originally had didn't really work out or that thesis didn't play out. And so we've adjusted that to this.

And I think that can be hard for a lot of entrepreneurs is that they're bullish. And I certainly was for a while where it's no, I'm going to make this come true. This vision and yeah, being open to learn. We don't know what we don't know was a key skill set as the business changed.

Accepting that and sharing with the team that, Hey, this is this year's plan in the annual kickoff meeting, but it might change as we learn a few months from now, that division that we want to invest a bunch in, maybe we want to roll that back. Maybe there's something new that comes up and that's okay. And that's just what growth is all about.

Kenny Morgan: One thing that stood out there was we don't know what we don't know. And a group of. That is definitely in that category. I would say it would be college grads that don't know really what to expect when I come out of college. But you like wrote an open letter to college grads. That's something I really appreciate.

I am a professor here in Chattanooga. And so it was cool to see that, but you just you get some really good advice to that group. There's still something down to maybe one or two big pieces of wisdom for that group and really any young entrepreneur,

Riley Stricklin: Ask a lot of questions, be curious. I think curiosity is the most powerful human trait.

Social media glamorizes a lot of and romanticizes the entrepreneurial journey and it's hard. And so for me, a quote that I live by is just comparison is the thief of joy. There isn't. A fast track. You can't skip rungs on the ladder to get to the top kind of thing. You're going to have to, build that team, build that business one brick at a time.

And you're going to see a lot of people who seemingly are might be your age going a lot faster than you accomplishing a lot more don't get deflated by that and don't get distracted. So comparison is the thief of joy. I'm very proud of where I am at 35, but there's a ton of people in my network that are close friends of mine who have blown 10X past me.

And if I focus on that one perspective, I can call myself a failure and why haven't I accomplished more and another perspective I'm living beyond my wildest dreams at 35. So I think that perspective is really key. And when you're young, it's hard. And you want to get there, you want to get there fast.

Kenny Morgan: I've always loved that quote. So I really appreciate you sharing that. I've run a creative agency for many years and it's a, it's hard. It's a lot harder than people tell you it's going to be. Leadership can be a very lonely place at times. So how are you able to lead well, but also stay grounded and rooted and connected to the outside world during all the heaviness of business ownership?

Riley Stricklin: Finding a peer group in 2018, I joined a group called EO, the Entrepreneur’s Organization, finding community. That changed my life massively doesn't have to mean we were in the direct to consumer space doesn't mean it's has to be other direct to consumer founders. It's just other people building teams, going on these challenges, choosing to live this path of life.

That would be a little bit of a path less traveled. So finding community, I think is, going to be essential to anybody looking to take that entrepreneurial route.

Kenny Morgan: Yeah, that's awesome. Tell me I know, I think it was in January, you transitioned out of your primary role with Lume Cube. Read that you're stepping into some new things, some new ideas.

Not specifically what you're doing, but what would you say you're learning in this season where you're, looking for the next big thing.

Riley Stricklin: Learning a lot about myself. I can tell you that it's been one of the more introspective periods of my life. So a lot of thinking, a lot of writing figuring out both reflections as well as just inward looking, where are my skill sets, what am I great at?

And also being really honest with myself where. Where am I not that great? What mistakes might I have made and where could I compliment myself? I think it's good to be a little bit of a jack of all trades, but really find where your focus is. Some people call it, your personal hedgehog, Jim Collins kind of thing, like, where do my interests align?

And I looked at a number of businesses and both acquiring, starting, partnering. I can save, I give you a list of 20 that are all great separate figure businesses doesn't mean they're the right business for me. That's right. The business model is there. And so figuring out what is going to really scratch your itch when you're waking up every day, getting you excited to solve these problems, because as we were talking earlier, it will be harder, it will take longer and it will be more expensive than you think it's going to take.

So on those hard days, like if you don't have true passion at least for the problem you're solving, then business model, all that stuff can be shaken out, but the core problem that you're solving and when you're waking up. Do I want to spend the next 10 hours of my day focused on solving this problem?

And so finding out and that's different for everybody that you know there's a lot of different business models and again being part of those founder communities have opened my eyes to like Holy smokes, man. You're doing you got a 10 million dollar business doing what? You realize that there are lot of ways to be successful.

So that, and then for me, where my high interest has gone is just really being on the front edge of this wave with AI. So I've gone back to school, taking a ton of courses, playing with the tools, meeting with as many people as I can really just to understand where it's going, because it is game-changing.

And for somebody with my mindset, that kind of entrepreneurial opportunistic, I get my mind blown every day. Yeah. It is the worst it's ever going to be today. Like it really does open your mind to what's possible. So that's really where I spent a lot of time working with businesses and consulting around how AI can implement and be impactful in their organization.

So it's been really fun for me.

Kenny Morgan: Yeah. I think I just saw maybe in the last week that Apple was going to cut custom emojis using AI. Did you see that? You can pretty much just tell it, tell what kind of emoji you want. It'll just make it for you.

Riley Stricklin: It's incredible that very like small level, just that thesis of what it's going to do and the amount of customization it's going to have.

And there's a lot of fun stuff that is personal in the home how you can use it as an individual, but where having built and led a business. The aspect of where it can be impactful in a business sense is just, so I certainly encourage everybody to just get in there, take a few tools, play around with them.

There's a dozen, dozens, hundreds 29 courses that just give you the foundational understanding and it will it'll shock you. So it really gives you a different perspective on what's possible. It's good at a few things today. I think there's a lot that it's not yet good at, but just give it time.

Kenny Morgan: That's awesome. Something that I love that you said it was trying to figure out a lot of places that you could plug in, but it's really coming down to is this the problem that I want to solve? And I wondered is that aligned with also trying to find our identity or what our true purpose is in life?

What it's been for you to maybe get closer to what's your identity or your true calling is. I know it's a big question, but there's a lot of people, probably everybody that listens to this podcast will have those thoughts at some point of what am I really supposed to do? And I wonder if solving problems is really a closer way to find out what the answer is for each person.

Riley Stricklin: Absolutely. It is totally unique. It's just like a lot of the health aspects out there. Like it is not a one-size-fits-all. And what is a great business for somebody else and they're thriving you might. Love it, hate it. So many different things. So for me, I couldn't be more of a, supporter and fan of I call it doing the work and creating space for that.

But in 2020, I found an incredible therapist that I worked with for several years and I've had coaches and I, those depending on where I'm looking. So found a new coach that I opened up and worked the last four months with in this period. And just on specific things that I've wanted to dive in emotionally, personally, answer questions for myself.

When I reach call it. Find internal limitations, fears like, Hey let's, explore that. And so creating a space to do that it can be as simple as using one of those online portals. Honestly, every coach I've ever had, I've never done an in person session in four years, so you don't have to go and sit on the couch and have this kind of negative connotation. So it has, I can tell you if I didn't do a lot of that personal work. I wouldn't be married to the wonderful woman I'm married to about to have a kid with. I wouldn't have had the success that I've had at Lume Cube and been able to handle a lot of that stress.

And just even in these last six months going through that process of really getting to know myself and what makes me tick and listening to that kind of intuition, your gut and your intuition is more powerful than your mind. And if you can get in tune with that, when you come at those crossroads with two, three, four different options, those who have powerful minds can easily logically rationale what is, what route makes the most sense, but historically, when I've made decisions with my gut based on what feels right and my mind based on what calculates based on a spreadsheet or numbers, I've always been misled by my mind.

And my gut has always treated me well. And so creating some space that could be a three-minute morning meditation that could be a once-a-month call with a coach, a business coach, life coach, therapist, whatever it is. To just create that space to ask those questions. You can certainly rationale and use the mind, but ultimately make that decision with your gut and your intuition of what feels right and it will guide you the right way.

And that's the interesting thing that when you talk to a partner, a friend, anything, what's right for them or what seems right for them, that kind of individualistic aspect, they could be totally right. But it doesn't mean it's right for you. And so that's been big. Am I making this decision because I think it's right or because other people are telling me it's the right decision or because my ego is at play and it seems cool if I do this, where even though deep down, I don't know if I really want to do that.

That's been why are you making the decisions you're making and make them for yourself? So that's been really powerful for me.

Kenny Morgan: That's so good. I think entrepreneurs. Are also very creative in their own way. There are some creative entrepreneurs. I was one of those. In a single day, just really focus on a one or two tasks and get it done.

It's for me, it's I'll have 20 ideas in one day about many different things. But it it could be great to have those ideas. But if you can't like move forward, it can be a real struggle. So like, how do you, have you struggled with that before? And how have you been able to reign it in?

Riley Stricklin: Oh, big time, man. I'm that guy who's got 37 tabs open. He's got sticky notes everywhere. So it's been, A life's challenge to reign that in. I live and die these days by my calendar. And so time blocking different things and just knowing that, okay this afternoon I've got from four to five, I've got to get that done and putting it in my calendar to hold myself accountable.

And then, attempting a lot of different ways. Again, it's different for everybody. What really, gives you that structure? The accountability has been big for me just on the calendar, but then a quote that I have literally have it above my door as I walk in and out of my office is never mistake activity for achievement.

So it is very easy to say on Friday, man, that was a busy week, but really boiling down to, Were you just busy? Cause it's very easy to be busy or what did you actually achieve? So that I've got this here, everybody's got their own versions, but productivity planner Monday, what are written ranking those things that you need to get done?

If I got two things done this week, only two, what to are qualified as achievement because you could easily go into a week and have 15 things done. And, but really just that statement that you're. Your email inbox is an open to do list that anybody in the world can throw stuff on.

Kenny Morgan: That's right.

Riley Stricklin: So be very wary of that because it's very easy to say I've got a ton of emails and spend all week just responding, doing this and that for other people, get this, get that. And you really are like, holy smokes, the things I wanted to get done, I didn't even get done. So really being aware of that and it's marking out, Hey, I'm not going to even open email till 10 AM.

And I'm going to get up and do these important things has been really effective for me. Transparently, I'm still struggling with that. It's still a daily battle of all these ideas and opportunities and people who want to chat with me and I want to do these things and okay, wait, I've got these things I need to get done.

These three big things like, yeah, to get them done.

Kenny Morgan: Yeah,

Riley Stricklin: It's a deal.

Kenny Morgan: That's good, man. I'm about ready to put that quote above my door too. That's how good it is. So thank you for sharing that.

Riley Stricklin: I used to preach that to the team and everybody says they're busy and it's wait let's, like analyze.

I totally agree. You're busy.

Kenny Morgan: Yeah.

Riley Stricklin: Where's the achievement?

Kenny Morgan: Yeah. So

Riley Stricklin: Activity versus achievement are two very different things.

Kenny Morgan: That's so good. One big question, and then we'll close things out, but, a big one, but we talk a lot about fulfillment on this podcast, it can be professional, it can be personal, but when you think about fulfillment in life, what would you say what comes to mind for you?

Riley Stricklin: For me, it's impact. I really am a passion-driven person. I want to, solve problems. I want to make an impact in the last few months, really clarifying what that means has been big for me. There's the grandiose impact that I think every entrepreneur dreams of I want to solve the plastic in the ocean problem.

I want to solve plastic pollution. Access to water. Those are like, how do you make an impact at a global scale? And so that is certainly things that I've chased those dragons in terms of, okay what major world impact can I have for me, just boiling it down to, okay, how can I make an impact on my wife and my, child positively?

How can you make an impact in my, Social Community. How can I make an impact on my employees? And so that really was validated when I left. I was very fortunate to have some incredible outreach for my community and employees over the years. We employed over 100 people here in San Diego. of just hearing about the impact that I had on them through my leadership style working with them, helping them.

Those texts or emails that I got were so much more emotionally fulfilling than any seven-figure PO looking for Best Buy or flip deal closing with a big creator. And so that was a good kind of, Barometer for me that, okay, this is your North star. If you can make an impact on people every day, you're going to go home.

You're going to sleep really well. You're going to feel fulfilled. And and I think that starts the closest circle, your family, then your friends, then your, business colleagues, and really focusing on, am I taking energy from them? Am I leveraging them or am I giving am I, making an impact?

Am I am I giving back as much as I'm receiving from them? And then just being aware of that is, is really powerful.

Kenny Morgan: That's so good. For those that have been just really seeing the fruit from this conversation as I have, what's the best way for people to just stay connected to you in the next season of life.

Riley Stricklin: LinkedIn will be best. I'm one of the things I've been challenged with and that has been most difficult. Intimidating and fearful is posting on LinkedIn consistently and being a little bit more vulnerable publicly. So I want to step into that fear and you'll probably see me be a little bit more active in the coming weeks and months on LinkedIn and sharing a little bit more about my journey.

And so while it scares the heck out of me, I'm certainly excited to, again, it all comes back to if that's a if I have to step into that fear and be a little nervous and vulnerable, but the, Core objective is to make a bigger impact then let's go for it. So that's

Kenny Morgan:Aawesome, man. I've, been following some of your past posts and it's been amazing to see just your openness.

And I think that goes in such a long way. So keep, it up.

Riley Stricklin: I appreciate that, man. No, I'll do my best.

Kenny Morgan: Yeah and man, I just want to say one more time, just thank you for being on the podcast. Just really appreciate your time.

Riley Stricklin: You got it, man. Absolutely. Thanks for having me.