Danavir Sarria

Danavir is the founder of SupplyDrop, an email marketing agency that specializes in helping 6, 7, and 8 figure ecommerce brands scale with email.

Where did the idea for SupplyDrop come from?

I’ve been a freelance email marketer since I was 16 years old. However, after years of being a one man shop, I decided I wanted to build something bigger than myself. Plus, I wanted to specialize in ecommerce email marketing, which requires more people to produce deliverables.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

When it comes to how my work day starts, I always start with the most important task of the day. Because I’m the owner of SupplyDrop, this means I primarily focus on the most important lead generation task. This can either be a social media post, SEO-optimized article, or a one-on-one conversation with a partner or client. Then, the rest of the day is making sure the agency runs smoothly with deliverables and client happiness.

How do you bring ideas to life?

Research is everything.

I believe creativity comes from putting two different ideas together rather than sitting down and trying make something up on the fly. So, I always start with lots of research to help come up with new, differentiated ideas.

Once the idea has formulated, it’s time to put it on paper as if it already existed. If the idea makes sense, then it’s time actually get it done.

For that, I list down who do I need and what do I need to give them to get something off the ground. And if it’s something I can do on my own, I only focus on the resources necessary to get it down.

What’s one trend that excites you?

There’s nothing as excited as Web3 right now.

Most people don’t get it, but once you’re “in it”, you’ll realize that the possibilities are endless. For example, you can bootstrap a multi-million dollar media company from scratch with a semi-popular NFT project.

Even if you don’t build a Web3 startup, there’s huge opportunity to add Web3 elements to “regular” businesses.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

I end every night by creating a “to-do” list for the next day.

This involves brain dumping all of my ideas, removing everything except for the top 3-5 action items for the next day, and then prioritizing those 3-5 action items.

By doing this, I make sure that every day is a productive day even if I don’t necessarily work harder or longer.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Triple down on what’s already worked for you even if you’re not necessarily the biggest fan of whatever those skills are.

There’s a lot of wasted time, effort, and resources on doing what’s “cool” versus what you’ve shown already works. Success is so hard and there’s no guarantee that the “next thing” will work. In fact, it most likely won’t. So once you find something that does work, triple down on it.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

Unsubscribes are a good thing. Most business owners are way too timid with their email marketing. They care too much about vanity metrics and the few vocal haters they have on their list. The purpose of your email list is to drive revenue, so you should be sending as many emails as your list can reasonably handle (typically 2-4 per week). If you see a jump in unsubscribes, that’s ok. Let them leave so you can focus on your true fans.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Make whatever you’re doing work on paper first before doing anything else.

It’s much faster, cheaper, and easier to figure out if your supply chain, unit economics, and messaging work if you sit down and make sure the business is viable before spending a cent in manufacturing,

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

SEO has been a game changer. The biggest SEO tactic that has helped though is understanding how publishing velocity can turn 5 years worth of progress into just 1-2 years. So whenever I ramp up my SEO efforts, my number one concern is being able to publish as many articles as possible, in as little time as possible.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

I exited my online publishing business to go after my passion of building a men’s activewear brand. After 18 months and $14,000 spent, the business failed. It sucked. But because I now had experience in ecommerce, I was able to start a successful ecommerce marketing agency.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Barefoot shoes sold like streetwear.

Right now, barefoot shoes are a niche category that still competes on features. However, there is space for a luxury barefoot shoe that is sold in drops. In other words, building the Supreme of barefoot shoes.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

The best $100 I’ve spent recently has been my kettlebell.

While I normally exercise at home, because of COVID, I stopped doing cardio. But with my kettlebell, I can now exercise with more intensity than even before the pandemic.

This has kept me in shape while helping me keep sane during the biggest health crisis in 100 years.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

The generic “notes” app on every Apple product is the #1 productivity tool I’ve ever used.

It’s where I can organize ideas and allows me to better brainstorm my action items so I know exactly what I need to do and when I need to do it.

It’s not fancy, but it’s no BS.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

Killing Marketing is one of my favorite books because it’s one of the few books that actually goes into how regular, everyday entrepreneurs can turn content into a real business. Considering how every company is turning into a media company, knowing the lessons inside this book helps every business.

What is your favorite quote?

“Going in one more round when you don’t think you can, that’s what makes all the difference in your life” – Rocky Balboa

Key Learnings:

• Productivity is about saying “no” to as many things as possible so you can focus on doing the most important 2-3 action items for the day.
• When deciding on a business model, build it around what you’re good at. If something works, keep at it because it’s extremely hard to find something else that works.
• SEO is an amazing business building skill, but if you want to skip the line and get results in a fraction of the time, then you’ll want to publish as many articles as you can in as little time as you can.