Episode 97: Luck and Hardwork: Creating a Successful Shoe Company with Steven Sashen

Welcome back on Pass the Secret Sauce. Today I got to interview the very first man, who never had a job interview and never had a real job in his life. Steven Sashen is the CEO and co-founder of Xero Shoes. He is a born entrepreneur, who was inspired by Born To Run and decided to make his own footwear. Together with his wife Lena Phoenix, they built an amazing shoe company, who makes versatile, comfortable, and fun to wear footwear.

Xero Shoes include a complete line of shoes, sandals, and boots that let feet function naturally -- bending, flexing, and safely FEELING the world. People in 97 countries wear Xero Shoes for everything from a stroll on the beach to running a 256k 7-day race across Madagascar.

Prior to jumping into the footwear business, Steven is a former professional stand-up comic and award-winning screenwriter, and a competitive sprinter -- one of the fastest men over 55 in the country.

In this episode we discuss:

• A bit of Steven’s interesting childhood memory [3:00]
• What kind of businesses he’s done growing up [4:00]
• The backstory why he never had a real job [6:00]
• His experience as a comedian and getting into real estate investing [8:20]
• How Xero Shoes was born, inspired by Born To Run [10:30]
• The unimaginable luck of meeting the chief products designer of Crocs [14:15]
• Why Xero Shoes is better for your feet [16:10]
• Feet injuries that people are suffering, how Xero shoe help alleviates it [18:22]
• Challenges he faced in manufacturing footwears [21:50]
• Making footwears overseas instead of domestically manufacturing it [23:50]
• Difficult parts of modifying products [26:50]
• More lined up products of Xero Shoes [29:50]
• How to connect with Steven Sachen and learn more about Xero Shoes [32:05]

Links to sources and tools

• Connect with Steven Sashen
  • https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashen/
• Where to purchase Xero Shoes:
  • https://xeroshoes.com/
• Follow them on their social media:
  • Facebook 
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Listen to other PTSS episodes:

• Fitness-Focused and Business Expertise Talks with Dr. Josh Funk
• Build Your Business by Winning the Hearts of the People ━ with Evan Dash
• Business Success: Identify, Get & Utilize Leads that Converts with Ron Browning

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