Taking The Leap Of Faith: How To Start A Business By Utilizing Your Talent With Daniel Basaldua

Leaving your high-paying job in order to start your own business is always going to be a tough situation. The ability to utilize your talents and passions so that you can make your dreams come true is what every entrepreneur wants to do. This is what Daniel Basaldua did. Daniel is the founder of Euphree, a company that sells and designs urban e-bikes. Daniel quit his job as an oil and gas engineer because he found a hole in the market for commuting. He saw his opportunity and took the leap of faith. Join your host Yanet Borrego as she gets Daniel to share about his entrepreneurial journey. Learn how much fossil fuel you burn with your car and why e-bikes are a way to solve this. Learn what challenges he had to face in selling these bikes. Find out all that and more today!

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Taking The Leap Of Faith: How To Start A Business By Utilizing Your Talent With Daniel Basaldua

We are here with Daniel Basaldua.

What’s it going? Thank you for having me.

Thank you so much for being here. He's the Founder of Euphree electric bikes. I was reading the reviews, we were testing the eBike industry. It is amazing. I’m so excited.

Thank you so much. We have a lot of people that haven't explored other transportation modalities. We have them ride the bike and they're like, “This is awesome.”

I’m so excited. For everyone out there, we met years ago working our 60-years corporate job.

We both decided to throw that out in the garbage can.

That is the purpose of all these interviews. It’s showcasing stories of people who are living with intention, with purpose and are gaining clarity as they go. I'm so curious. Let's start with your decision of going from corporate to entrepreneurship. What’s your thought process? How do you know that eBikes was a thing? Tell me more about it.

To start, maybe a little bit of my background. My dad was an entrepreneur. When I was young, I was making minimum wage. My dad pushed me to start a little tutoring business. I was making $5.25 or $6 an hour. I started tutoring kids in Math and I would make $20 an hour. It’s four times better. The majority of the kids that I tutored wanted to learn fractions. It was so easy, I was like, “This is awesome.”

My dad was like, “You don't really have a business. You have a self-employed job. A business is an actual system where you can step away. Why don't you try to find some people to tutor the kids and you just manage it?” I didn’t do that very well. That scene started out and I got a chance to see my dad struggle. He had a business for ten years.

Start your own business. You only have one life. If you fail, you can always go back and find a job.

What was his business?

He had an industrial machine shop. He did a lot of tools. Good learning is that if my dad had sold his business in year seven, we would have been in a very different area code, not just ZIP code. When he shut his business down in year ten, he got his money back and had a good salary. Seeing that risk curve and that things worked all right, he continued working. He invested in real estate and it gave me the palette to want to take some risk and peddle myself because I saw my dad do that and we didn't go bankrupt. It was tough, but I saw him engrossed in his passion. He didn't like the mundane job he had.

I love that he programmed that in you since you were a little kid. Whenever I’ll have children in the future, that's something I would love to do.

I went to pharmacy school and I wanted to become a pharmacist. I went there without even working in a pharmacy. It was a horrible decision. I say this story because I hated it. After I did my first year, I worked in a pharmacy and I knew that it absolutely wasn't for me. I remember telling my dad and he said, “Then quit.” A pharmacist makes six figures. It's a stable job. Everybody likes the drug dealer.

You go to the pharmacist, people ask you questions. It’s free advice. You don't have to pay. I hated it because I wasn't helping people. I was counting their fives and improving things. Ultimately, I left and I eventually got Chemistry then became a mechanical engineer. That's where we met when we both decided to work in oil and gas. The only reason I worked in oil and gas is because the offer was like $25,000.

You started studying pharmacy and you decided to move away from that, right?

I did because I didn't like it. It was this theme of my dad telling us or challenging us to bet on ourselves and we only had one life. If it failed, we could always go back and get a job. The option of the status quo is always there. Sometimes people make $130,000 and they're scared because they see there are other options that are $100,000 or $90,000 and they’re like, “I worked so hard to get here.”

Maybe you did work hard to get there, but take a chance on yourself, chase your dreams, because the delta between if you started at $100,000, failed and then went to work someplace for $90,000. One, you can still try and get other jobs and two, if you were a $130,000 person, you'll probably get promoted in that $90,000 job quickly to the salary that you were deserving of. Just take that bet on yourself.

Always moving away from something, quitting something, or leaving something that you have built and is stable, is such a challenging decision that all of us go through. I decided to leave my corporate career. I also had to go through that process and think to myself, “What are the options? What’s the worst thing that can happen? I can’t get back into corporate. I’m prepared. I’m ready.”

You can go get a job on a fraction of your salary and make ends meet, while you're trying to find that other thing. Even my little sister worked on Wall Street. She made a ton of money and by the time she was 24, she absolutely hated it. She quit her job and went to pursue a PhD in Psychology. That challenge and bet on yourself from my dad are what stuck.

You have inspired me so much. Looking back into my life, I started studying Chemical Engineering. I wasn’t great but I knew that even though I was studying it, that wasn't it, but I didn’t know back then what was going to be for me. As I started experiencing new things and betting on myself and not following the status quo, that’s when I started to understand what was the thing that I connected the most with. How was that clarity journey for you?

I went to work at Corporate America on oil and gas. Things were great, I was making money and I moved to Houston. I got to buy a house and I invested in things. I traveled a lot. I went to work in Saudi Arabia. I didn't pay taxes. I got a massive bonus. I made more money than I ever made in my life and I was absolutely depressed because everybody who was there in Saudi Arabia, number one, we’re working all the time. Two, it's a bit of a culture change and three, I was 25 and everybody who was there was 50. I didn't have a lot of friends.

I took home like, “You can chase the dollar but if you're not enjoying it, it's empty.” After that, I continued my corporate career in various different roles. I had a bad boss. I remember just not feeling appreciated. In my corporate job, it was very much a culture of following the leader like, “Don't change and innovate.” I realized that I'm a little bit more of a, not necessarily a creator, but an inventor. I like to try new things, testing things and tweak. It didn't suit well in the organization that I was in, then I changed roles.

I had one that I loved where I could provide a lot of foundation and free-thinking and then, I had a boss came in to shut that down. It made me start exploring other options, but I had always known even since day one when I walked into that corporate job that I was going to, at the very least, have my own business. If I fail, I can always go back to that corporate job. I read this book called No One at the Wheel. It's about transportation. A few things jumped out at me. One was that for every car in the United States, there are 6 to 8 parking spots in West Virginia.

If you think about it, it's all high-value real estate. It's not in Iowa. It's all in the Downtown Houston. You look into H-E-B, the parking lot is way bigger than the H-E-B. Another thing is that the car weighs 2,000 to 4,000 pounds and you weigh 100 to 250 kilos. The energy cost is not to move the people, it's to move the object.

Electric cars, won't solve the real estate problem. I got headhunted by a company that was in the transportation, mobility space. It was interesting but I didn't eventually end up working for them just because it was chaotic. I was thinking. I was like, “I wanted to leave Exxon. I wanted to go to transportation.” Maybe it was a maintenance repair company, supply chain, it was different things and then a few things happened that helped. One was I found a really good mentor. He had successfully raised over $20 million worth of startup.

How did you meet him?

I met him through the connection with my little sister. He was in the biotech space, so it was very different than a consumer product. He taught me a lot about capital fundraising and how we’re going to do things. This is getting a little bit ahead of myself, but when I bought my first bike, I saw it as a solution to a lot of the problems in the book. It can still carry things. I didn't know of the real estate problem with the car. I kept thinking this was a real solution.

The scooters have a low center of gravity. You can't go too fast because if you hit a bump, you’re going to fall and you can't carry anything. The one that I rode was very clunky and heavy. It was 80 pounds. It was cool. I liked it. I kept thinking about it and I started to tinker. I’m like, “I can make an eBike myself with parts off of eBay. My little sister asked me like, “I want an eBike.” I remember telling her, “This one's ugly and it cost me a lot because I bought it part by part. Just go buy one on the market.” It seemed that everything that was available didn't fit her use case unless she spent $4,000.

With eBikes, they’re usually about $800 to $5,000. What she wanted to do, she had no desire to go off-roading. She lives in Boston. I felt like the female eBikes were very dainty and Nantucket style, but it still lets you go fast. The battery and the motor on the back of it with poor weight distribution. They let you go fast but you are unsafe. I was discouraging my little sister and I was like, “I get that it looks pretty, but it's not a good bike.”

If you're not frustrated enough, you'll never make the leap. Embrace it instead of complaining.

I wouldn't recommend you buying it for the urban community because if you use it on a daily basis, you would fall off it.” There was a hole in the market and that was the inspiration behind it. We started percolating an idea and building a business plan. Eventually, Thomas helped me out on capital fundraise and the lawyers.

There is so much to that story. One of the things of gaining clarity that you mentioned that I also went through is knowing your why because your why never changes. In my case, I wanted to help people. I was obsessed with knowing how people behave and why they behave in certain ways. I was very heavy on the psychological aspect, mental and emotional, but I didn't know the vehicle of getting there. Now I know that it’s coaching and teaching, but in your case, it was similar, right?

Yeah. I remember being stuck for two years on my corporate job knowing that I didn't like it and that I wanted to leave, but not knowing what to do yet. That period is important because if you're not frustrated enough, you never make the leap. Embrace that time instead of complaining. The more that you're like, “This sucks. I hate this. I'm going to work,” you're not thinking of any new ideas.

It is interesting because I went through a phase of that. In my first corporate job, I knew that wasn't it and then I got into a place that was a lot better. I loved their culture. I didn’t leave in a desperate situation, but I knew that it wasn't it. The second corporate job is the same. I do think that it's important to recognize and take action even though you're not in a crisis state. It varies and a lot of times, pain is a huge motivator to get us going and at the same time, being brought to it is important, recognizing and taking a leap of faith, even if you're not in crisis. What are your thoughts on that?

It's good to take a leap of faith when you're not in crisis mode, but what determines your crisis mode or not is more your mental mindset, because there were times when I would complain about my corporate job. That’s what I was doing for three months and nothing was changing. I was like, “If this person I did work with was this or if Exxon was like this.”

I wasn't searching for any other jobs, but I wasn't brainstorming business plans. I was complaining and recruiting people to support that like, “I am worth it that I should be able to complain and you should be happy that I can complain.” That season is necessary, but it needs to be a season, not a lifetime. If you don’t do anything, nothing’s going to change.

I remember seeing a story of you on Instagram just writing your goals. This was right before you quit your job. What did you learn about the process of taking action? Writing your goals is something super important. What are the things that you do frequently that define how successful you are in your business?

You always have to have a plan. A 30-day, quarterly or yearly plan. It's always shifting. You know that saying, “If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there?” It is true. If you don't have a direction, it doesn't matter. Step one is like, “Do you like what you're doing or do you not?” Step two is, “If you don't, do you want to change it?” Because maybe you don't like it, but it's not worth it for you to change and I've been in that place in my life too. I've always done goal-0setting because I want to feel like I accomplished something.

You’re inspiring me so much with your story. This mentor of yours helped you to gain more knowledge in how the market and how everything works. From there, from acquiring knowledge, to you creating a product, what was that process?

There’s a kit to bring a product to market. It's the same kit, whether it's your bracelet or a car. I recommend you bring a koozie to market and then bring a car because the car is significantly more complicated. Looking back, I probably should have brought it to market and then worked my way up to the eBike. It starts with, “Is there a need? Is there a hole in the market?” Find someone to help you choose your lane. In this case, it's a hybrid eCommerce business. We did a bunch of market analyses. At that time, I recruited a few of my friends to work with me. I had five of my friends working with me.

A lot of times, people feel that the closest to them, like family and friends, are not going to believe in their dreams. How was that for you?

This is a little different. I had the idea. I had a bunch of my friends working with me. There were four or five of us and I said, “Let’s not worry about equity at the moment. I feel like somebody's going to drop off after two months.” I have a feeling this is going to be too much work for you. You're going to fizzle and be like, “I don't want this.” Let's not, “I own this much,” Let's just work together.

That’s so important.

I'd actually say that it’s a huge mistake. My mentor was like, “Fire all your friends.” I was like, “What do you mean?” He's like, “You can't start a company at 20% equity. You're going to get so diluted. You’ll hate yourself.” He told this story about this guy who’s similar to that, but it was in the biotech space and a very successful company. It ended up getting acquired for $450 million and the founder got six. Not $6 million in chump change, but in the hundreds.

It’s because he started out with X amount and the dilution. He goes like, “You have to fire all of your friends, raise money and pay people to do what you need them to do. Figure out how much money you need to raise, get a structured business plan, raise that amount of money and pay people to execute those tasks. You can have one co-founder, but you can't have four.” I did that.

I called my friend Matt and I was like, “You missed the last meeting and you’re this and that,” and he was like, “I’m not as dedicated as you are.” I was like, “You’re out.” I had another friend. He said, “How much are you willing to put in this?” I was like, “$50,000.” He was like, “You don't need to put that much. Please don't. What is the number that they would drop off?” I would be like, “$20,000,” and he was like, “Just tell them $20,000 then.” They all dropped off, except for one of them and we continue to work together.

It’s a nice filter.

It's put up or shut up time. $20,000 or you're out.

You did that. How did you raise money from your friends and family? How was that process for you?

If there is a hole in the market, find someone to help you choose your lane.

There are two businesses that you can create. You can bootstrap it and you can make a small business, or you can make a startup. They're very different use cases. With a startup, when you're pre-revenue you always have this problem of how much is the business worth? You're like, “I don't know. Do you have any IP? I need money to get IP and patent. Do you have any sales? Obviously, not. How much is it worth?” and then this is where people will bicker back and forth of like, “It’s worth $1 million dollars and $100,000 is 10%. No, it’s only worth $500,000, $100,000 is 20%.”

There are two financial instruments set up. It's called a convertible note or a safe. What that means is, “I need X amount of money and we're going to hold off on saying how much percentage that is until a conversion event.” The deal is I’m going to use the money to get started and you're going to benefit me, by me believing in you at the beginning by giving me a discount on the share price whenever we do have an evaluation. Your startup and there are two instruments, a safe or convertible note.

The way they work is, “I'm raising $500,000 and if you invest, you're going to get a discount on equity at the point of the time of Series A round when I'm raising $1 million or $10 million. The standard discount is 20% or there's a valuation cap, which means if the startup is worth above X, you're locked in a percentage to when the startup is worth more than that valuation cap. If you say it’s worth $5 million and you invested $100,000, that's 2%. If it comes in at $50 million, then you'd get 2% of $50 million, but if it comes in much lower than that, you’ll get a lower amount.

That’s what I do is a discount of equity at 20% upon the time of the Series A round. Our goal is to raise more money and have a more differentiated product eventually. To do that R&D, you need to raise more capital and along that process, we'll have to do a Series A round and other things like that. At that time, that early seed round investors, their investment will convert, but at a scale.

You had to talk to friends and family, what did you learn from those interactions?

Everyone should raise money. Even if the business only is $10,000 to start, you should at least raise $2,000. The reason is because one, you'll have to create a structured pitch deck or plan. Two, you should do that, but then it gives you some ideas and other people are going to poke holes in it. You need to go through that period of, “Is this worth my time? Why can I not even raise $2,000?”

Two things, maybe I don't believe in you or I don't believe in the business model. You get three answers. You get, “Yes, I’ll invest.” You get, “No,” and you get, “No, but I'll tell you why.” The majority of the time, people would just say like, “I don't know.” My minimum investment is $25,000. Not a ton of our friends can just throw around $25,000. It’s not an insignificant amount of money.

When they said no, would you pursue them more than that or you're like, “If you’re not fully committed, then you’re out.” What is your approach to that?

One, they're invested. They’re not in or out. When they say no, and sometimes it can be like, “Not right now,” or “I need to see a prototype.” One of my friends asked me. He was one of the first people I pitched in. His response was, “I want to see a prototype and I want to know if you’re going to burn the boat.” I was like, “What do you mean?” He’s like, “Go on all that and you quit your job.” I said, “I’ll do that.” He’s like, “Come back to me when you've done that.” I was like, “I need money to get the prototype.”

We did raise some money and we re-did a pitch deck a million times. You make a list and you got to ask people. I would say depending on the type of business that you're trying to do, you need to be a quality enough person to raise $250,000 to $1 million. Otherwise, you don't work in a business, you probably work for yourself.

I was asking because I'm on the services side. You’re more on the pro side. I love this quote that I heard once in a conversation or in a meeting, “A sale always happens.” The client will sell you their limitations or you sell them on the possibilities. I'm talking about my coaching. I don't know if that would apply to the product, but it’s so important to understand the why. Why they’re not investing.

Is that something they don't believe they can do or do they not have money? A lot of times, they can say, “I don't have money,” but you're going to say, “That’s exactly why you need to do it. If you continue with that, years from now, you’re going to have no money. It’s the same thing. You got to take a bet on yourself.” I love that you said that since the beginning.

You have to go all-in. What are some of the reasons why I think my startup will be successful? One, because it is a good product. Another reason is because my back is always against the wall. I have to perform or I lose a bunch of people's money, and I go back and get a job. I don't want to do that. When you're still in this, maybe I'm going to quit, maybe I'm not. Maybe I'll go all-in.” Don't even do it.

I always tell my coaching clients and everyone else, when you're pursuing something, you got to know what you're willing to sacrifice because once you have that clear and when you actually do it, you knew what you are going to face. You got to face it first and then you're ready. What are some challenging things?

Some of the highs are when we’re just getting our first prototype samples, seeing some on the market, working, iterating, talking to vendors and suppliers out of Taiwan and figuring things out. Seeing the market for eBikes take off caused a lot of problems and not helping because the market was growing slowly and it exploded. It was hard to get parts. The lead time takes longer and things like that. I had a lot of down moments. Fundraising is work, calling people and getting noes like, “Why no? Tell me why. What’s the deal?”

After receiving many noes, what keeps you going?

There is a reality that with all things in life, there's a numbers game. People ride the bike and will like it, and there is a fraction of them that aren’t even going to ride the bike. There is a fraction that they’re going to ride it, and there’s a fraction that they’re going to ride it and say, “This is awesome but I don’t know how to use this.”

There is a fraction that’s also going to say, “This is awesome. I would use this, but I don't have the money.” There is a fraction that is like, “I would use this. I like it better than the other ones and I have the money.” It's easy or great if you can find 100 of the very last people and that's targeted advertising under Google or other places now.

Do you use Instagram and Facebook or mainly Google?

Like all things in life, business is a numbers game.

We’re starting to do advertising on all platforms to build more content, but the point of it is if you only talked to five people and you're like, “Nobody bought it.” If you only talked to five potential investors, one, they got to have a source of income. Two, you have to talk to enough people and also, as people see you grind. I remember asking my board member, I was like, “How long do you think it'll take to raise $500,000?” He was like, “A year.” I was like, “What?” He was like, “Unless you’re well-established, it’s going to take at least a year.”

I was like, “It will take two months.” You're getting noes and it was a grind. There was a really low point in my startup. The person that I've been working with, it's not that we didn't see eye to eye but it was nice to have a partner. We were working on two different things and we were trying to go and he didn’t see it the same way I did. The risk level was too much and eventually, he told me like, “I don't think I'm ready to quit my job. Why don't we delay our launch a little bit?” I was like, “I've taken a lot of my friends’ money.”

He also hadn't raised any money. There was some line of sight from money coming in from his network, but he himself hadn't raised any. It was frustrating because I was telling him like, “You're not in it the same way I am,” and also that we had to go our separate ways, but it hurt. I felt betrayed and lied to, but on top of that, it was like, “You talked to a lot of people and said we were all in on this. Clearly, there are still some questions or narratives in your mind. I can't run with somebody who's not running the same pace.” Ultimately, we went our separate ways. It was a lot that happened because I also got promoted at my job that same week.

Let me tell you. When you’re really close to making a decision like that, things like that will happen because the same thing happened to me when I left a notice on my corporate job, the previous one. The delta of money was huge and I'm like, “I'm leaving. Bye.” I feel in some way you’ll be tested to see if you’re committed to whatever you said you are.

One hundred percent. When I quit my job, raising money got so much easier. Maybe it won't work, maybe it will but it's not going to be because of lack of effort. That's one thing that solidified. There were a few other things that solidified, but there was definitely a low point. Going through quality control issues was another low point.

All of us go through that. In this entrepreneurship journey, times can be lonely.

It can be lonely and on top of that, it can also feel like you have so many things in your head. Staying focused on the plan. I have this, I have that and like, “Wait a minute. These are my weekly goals. This is what I have to get done.”

I have a lot of ideas that I document. Any idea, I document. I got to stay focused on whatever I said.

I'll tell you some distractions. Here are some ideas. If I can keep people from doing this, I would consider this interview a success. I remember telling my board member, “We're going to do a pre-order gift. He was like, “Yeah?” I was like, “Yeah. Like a backpack, we’ll have a bell and a lock-in it.” He’s also French and very direct. He’s like, “It’s utterly useless.” I was like, “What do you mean?” He's like, “Nobody's going to go to your page and buy the bike because of some stupid pre-order gift.”

I was like, “What do you mean? They’re going to create buzz and unboxes. It’s awesome,” and he's like, “It's utterly useless and you'll waste so much time.” I was like, “All right.” He’s like, “They're going to go and buy your bike because of your bike and they're going to go to Amazon to buy a bike lock. They're not going to care about these other little things. Stay focused on your one thing.”

Even from an ad strategy, it's good to get exposure to go to farmer’s markets, but that is not scalable. You won't invest in my company if I tell you, “How did you sell 100 units?” I went to the farmer's markets and sold them,” or, “I ran this type of Google ad. This was the best type of Google ad, and this was the result. If we pump this much into Google ads, we can sell it to X locations.”

Those were some of the things that we learned out of this and staying focused. Because unless you have that one thing done and down, you shouldn't go to another thing. If you're all over the place, you're not going to execute well. A business can survive on execution alone but it cannot survive on IP or strategy alone. They did things better than Compact. They didn't have a better computer, they just made the computer.

Even Apple, they have few products even though they are huge.

They do it very well.

I want to talk more about your product. You did mention that there are some distinctions. Competitive advantages between your product and others in the market. Tell us something.

In the product sector, you have to choose a lane. There are other eBike companies. There are the motorcycle eBikes or there are other ones in this. I saw a lane that I want to be the most complete, functional, urban commuter, pound for pound, best eBike on the market. I want to know the features that make it the best for an urban commuter because I want to change the real estate problems associated with the car and I'd like people to use the less energy-intensive form of transit so that we can necessarily get off of fossil fuels, which in general, use less energy to get around.

That was my focus. It was always going to be like, “We’re going to be in the urban commuter lane.” What seemed there, with like my little sister, is there a good urban commuter advertised to women? We started exploring that and within that, we realized like, “We have a good unisex urban commuter bike.” Within your lane, you have to differentiate yourself further. It's scary to choose a lane. The reason it's scary is because you're saying no to everything else. Do you want a motorcycle eBike? There's another better company. Do you want to take a fat tire off-roading eBike? There’s another better company.

You can't give everybody everything because you will just fail. Your podcast is specific on clarity and purpose. It's got nothing to do with wellness. I guess some mental wellness, but you're not a psychology rehab. All those other people could be doing, but you’re specific to one thing in entrepreneurship. That was one of the things. I wanted to change urban commuting and I wanted to offer a one-price complete kit of what is considered the best eBike pound for pound.

I wanted it to be lightweight to where if the battery ran out or if you chose to, you could still ride it like a regular bicycle and exercise. A lot of people ask me, “Can I still ride it like a bike and work out?” One hundred percent, you can do that on our bike. You cannot do that with most eBikes in the market. I wanted the design to have an integrated battery so it would be prettier and more aesthetic, and not this clunky big thing. I didn't want it to be like, “That's an eBike.”

I want it to be like, “How is he going so fast?” I also wanted the lights, the fenders and the opportunity for you to carry things, all to be included. I wanted an all-inclusive eBike. The last thing I wanted was, I wanted you to be comfortable and be able to go with the right speeds. With that, we have the front suspension and we have the seat suspension.

A business can survive on execution, but it cannot survive on IP or strategy alone.

Those sorts of things that we included because if you're going to ride our eBike on a daily basis, it’s going to be because you’re comfortable on it, you trust it and it's functional. That's our lane. We're segmenting even more in that lane of like, “There's one price. No frills. It’s the most complete pound for pound best value for your money.”

I love what you said about niching down. Some people call it niche. One of my teachers always says, “Who gets paid better? A generalist or a neurosurgeon?” At the end of the day, you got to choose.

On top of that, even for us, I don't see us making a $1,500 or $1,000 eBike. There's a lot of companies out there. If you don't have the money, there are good products that I can recommend. I see us aiming on the $2,000 to $3,000 lane or $2,000 to 4,000. Maybe we can offer more premium bikes at some point, but we want to be targeted and we want to offer a complete eBike. I want you to get to the car and it's like, “It doesn't include lights. The fenders are extra. This is great when it doesn't rain or there are no potholes.”

As we are completing the interview, I want to talk a little bit about money because that's a huge leaning factor for a lot of people or maybe what they believe about money. Tell me about that. What are some of the beliefs you had around money before, that maybe they have evolved to something else or what are the beliefs that you have now in this journey of yours?

Money is a tool, 100%. When you're passionate, the world will reward you for that passion and pay you what you're worth. When you work a job, you're trading time for money and if you do well, you'll get a 10%, maybe 15% raise. You go from $100, 000 for easy numbers. You may go from $102,000 to $110,000. The thing with money is if you figured out something on the side where you can solve a problem and add value, you could get a much higher raise than at work.

Let me give you an example of that. On my very first year at Exxon, I saved some money and my dad was like, “Don't buy a car,” because my dad did real estate. I bought an apartment complex, a fourplex. I was able to cashflow and make $12,000 a year off of that apartment complex. I didn’t get a $12,000 raise. What I'm trying to say is, if you can find a hole and a need and do something for yourself, it can provide more incremental income than that raise you’re trying to get. I'm not saying you don't perform at work. I look at work as a development opportunity as to how you can become a better supervisor and manager.

Don't necessarily put all your eggs in one basket for it to be what gives you financial income. The reason is because if the business is doing bad, you may not get a raise or it may be that you are great but there are eight people and three people who can get raises. You’re number four, you’re still really good or you’re number three and you only got a $3,000 to $5,000 raise. Part of it is like, find what you're passionate about, find the problem and then generate value associated with that. The value that you generate will pay you what you're worth. If you don't generate good value, then you're not going to make enough money.

There is a point where you get to automate things or maybe optimize. You’ll get passive income and you don’t have to work.

It can be as simple as like, “I was teaching kids fractions for $20 an hour,” but there are a lot of kids that don't know fractions. If you do that ten hours a week, that's $200, and then if you do that four times a month, that's $800. If you want to make more money, there are ways. You just got to be creative.

Even you recording a video and starting to sell it to a lot of kids.

It’s so easy. You can sell a knickknack on Amazon or put yourself out there on a TikTok, but you do have to take a leap.

Show up and be consistent. That’s a big one. As we conclude, what are some top three advice that you would give those people that maybe are seeking clarity, or are interested in the entrepreneurship journey?

One would be, figure out what you're passionate about because you will have so many lows that if you're not in it, you'll bail. Two, find where you're going to add value in the marketplace and then the last thing is, you have to be 100%. If you're not 100% in on it, it's probably because you're not passionate about it. When you hear some crazy success stories like Peloton or some of these other entrepreneurship stories where the company has an IPO, you go through so many problems and noes. I listened to their podcast about them starting up. They went through a few million dollars and didn’t have a product yet. He had felt horrible, but he really wanted this. If you want it bad, you have to figure it out.

This has been such an inspiring interview. I'm going to finalize this and I’m going to be ready to go. Everyone reading this will feel the same way because your story is so inspiring, you're leading by action. Interviewing you, which is theoretical and to see your product, is impressive. Going through this process, I’m so thankful that you got to be on the show. Where can they find the eBikes?

You can follow our Instagram page @Euphree.Bikes or just Euphree.com. The inspiration between the brand names is the words euphoric and free, the combination of both. When you're in a car and you're traveling, you're definitely not feeling euphoria and you’re not free because you’re in gridlock, and when you see an eBike whizzbanging in the bike lane and the sidewalk, you're going to be like, “This kid looks like he's having so much fun and he's going faster than me. That's what I need.”

I saw Cody riding the bike and I don't think I've ever seen an eBike close to me. I was like, “I want to do that.” Thank you so much. I appreciate you. I'm sure everyone else will be inspired by your story and I'm sure we’ll continue to collaborate.

I’m looking forward to it. Thank you.

Thank you all.

Important Links:

• Euphree
• No One at the Wheel
• @Euphree.Bikes - Instagram
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• YouTube - With Clarity & Purpose
• Start your Day on Purpose

About Daniel Basaldua

Daniel Basaldua, the founder of Euphree, is a former oil and gas engineer who was tired of signing off on emissions reports to the Railroad commission and believed in a better, faster, easier way to get around. The company's mission is to design comfortable urban ebikes that you will love and enjoy!

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