EP 582: Simplero SaaS Team of 2 Makes $1M Per Year, Bootstrapped, Totally Happy Helping Users Sell Courses with CEO Calvin Correli

Calvin Correli. He's the CEO of a holistically focused, multi-million dollar, online, all-in-one solution driven software company called Simplero. This company exists to reduce the stress associated with figuring out software systems and how to join them together. He's passionate about helping online business owners do exactly what brings them the most life.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – There Is Nothing Wrong With You
• What CEO do you follow? – N/A
• Favorite online tool? — FastMail
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Not every night
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Invest in getting to know yourself, and who you are, and how you're different"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 02:20 – Nathan introduces Calvin to the show
• 02:49 – Simplero is a tool that helps people sell online
• 03:20 – Simplero is a SaaS business model
• 03:30 – Simplero was launched in 2009
• • 03:39 – Calvin started to charge people in 2010
• 03:50 – Number of current paying customers is 700
• 04:02 – One of Simplero's customers is Robin Green, who is an acupuncturist in California
• • 04:25 – Robin decided to teach acupuncture online
  • 04:42 – Robin made around $60K on her first program
• 05:10 – Simplero automates everything that can be automated
• 05:27 – Average customer pay per month
• • 05:31 – Simplero charges monthly and takes a percentage of the revenue
• 05:51 – Simplero's main revenue stream
• • 06:25 – 10% is from the revenue fee and 90% from the SaaS model
• 07:15 – Average MRR
• • 07:21 – Average ARR per customer
• 07:50 – Average customer retention
• 08:25 – Calvin shares how he got their customer LTV
• 08:58 – Calvin is based in New York, but he has team members in Denmark and on the West Coast
• • 09:56 – Most of the people in the business started 6 months ago
• 10:20 – Simplero is self-funded
• 11:25 – Calvin is happy with how his company is doing at the moment
• 11:40 – Calvin wants to show the world a different way to live
• 12:01 – Calvin's big dream is to be a presidential adviser for USA
• 13:00 – How do we measure happiness?
• • 13:07 – Calvin is not a metrics guy
  • 13:19 – There's a sweet spot for every person where they are happy and work doesn't feel like work
• 14:00 – How do we know if people are really happy?
• 15:10 – Productivity gains do not directly correlate to happiness gains
• 15:55 - The source of happiness vs. the thing you do for others or with others
• 17:30 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• There's a feeling of contentment you can find in helping others.
• Invest in yourself, first.
• There's a sweet spot for every person where they are happy and work doesn't feel like work.

Resources Mentioned:

• Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
• Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel
• Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal
• Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
• Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
• The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
• Jamf – Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11" secure even when he left it in the airplane's back seat pocket
• Freshbooks – Nathan doesn't waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives