#28 - Building Big Ass Fans For Big Ass Money

**Carey Smith** (0:02)
People on the other end of the phone would say, are you those guys that make those big ass fans? I expected the first year that we were gonna sell a thousand fans, but we sold 142 fans.
People calling us up and saying, you're crazy. There's no way that fan is worth $5,000.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:23)
Check out this next story, where a simple name change completely revamped a company's culture, sales, and attitude.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:29)
But they're going global, and the sky is the limit.

**Carey Smith** (0:33)
When we started the business, we were the only people in the world that were doing this.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:37)
And there is no doubt that it is paying off.

**Carey Smith** (0:40)
We made a lot of multimillionaires, made a lot of millionaires.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:43)
And now, it's an iconic brand, bought by 70% to Fortune 500 companies, growing at 30% a year.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:50)
What made you wanna sell, and then how did you get the number 500?

**Carey Smith** (0:54)
I felt that 500 million was a big enough number.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:59)
Five million is not enough. Ten million. Fifteen million.

**Carey Smith** (1:02)
Twenty million dollars.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:03)
Hundred million dollars.

**Carey Smith** (1:03)
Half a billion revenue. Eight hundred fifty million dollars.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:06)
One or two people in a bedroom actually put threats to these giant multimillion dollar companies, because you have creativity and you have nothing to lose.
Add another zero to that price, buddy. Add two more zeros.
Every week, we sit down with self-made millionaires and ask them, how did you do it? I didn't start a podcast. I started my own personal business school, and the teachers are the successful entrepreneurs behind the biggest brands and businesses that we find today.
I wanted to know the real stories with all the details, like how did you get your first hundred customers? What did it feel like when shit hit the fan? I ask them, how did you spend your money now that you're rich? And what would you do if you were starting over from scratch again today? If you're like me and you want to own your own business instead of living a nine to five job, this is the podcast for you. The Hustle presents My First Million. Okay, so we are here with Carey Smith, somebody who, when I read your story, immediately hunted you down. I did the thing that I never liked to do, which is I went to the Contact Me page on your website, where there's just a form and you never know if anyone's ever gonna respond to that thing. But I said, I gotta try because I have no way of getting in touch with this man and I have to get in touch. I have to get him on the show because your company is a wild one, has the best name of any company on the podcast so far. So you were the founder and CEO of Big Ass Fans.

**Carey Smith** (2:35)
Big Ass Fans. No, actually, I was the CBA, which is the Chief Big Ass.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:40)
The Chief Big Ass. Okay, you were the Chief Big Ass.

**Carey Smith** (2:43)
Yeah, and everybody always told me that they love to introduce me simply because they got to say ass twice.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:49)
Right.

**Carey Smith** (2:49)
That's a real turn on, so yes.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:51)
I wanna know so much about this business because it's fascinating to me. But what is the premise, right? Let's start at the top. For somebody who can't figure out from Big Ass Fans what your business did, give us the very simple one sentence. Explain like I'm five years old what you did.

**Carey Smith** (3:06)
Well, Big Ass Fans was in the business of manufacturing, selling, distributing very large ceiling fans. And the fans ranged from six feet in diameter to 24 feet in diameter.
And they normally are used or were used and still are in large manufacturing plants, distribution centers, auditoriums and the like.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:30)
And so the way I like to put it, I wrote this down because I'm pretty proud of it. Fans make you cool, but Carey Smith, you made fans cool.
You made a fan business very intriguing. Built it about 20 years old now, right? This business?

**Carey Smith** (3:43)
Yes, you're correct. From 1999, and we sold the business in 2017

**SPEAKER_4** (3:48)
And you sold the business for $500 million on the dot.

**Carey Smith** (3:52)
Correct.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:52)
That is a fantastic outcome. And did you have investors along the way or was this a bootstrapped business?

**Carey Smith** (3:58)
We bootstrapped the business. We started because I didn't know any better, but we found in the long run that that was the best way to do it. Because I think that when you're starting a business, to imagine that you know what you need the money for is a little ridiculous. And I always tell people that come to us that come to Unorthodox Ventures, which is the company that we have now, that there's a time and a place for everything and that includes money. And if you take money, too much money too early, there's certainly the opportunity that you're going to misuse it. And then you've traded typically a significant amount of your equity for something that you've turned around and wasted. Right.