How Falling For A Pyramid Scheme Started This Nationwide Worm Business | Dan Beaudoin

Dan Beaudoin runs DMF Bait, the family owned live bait company his dad and two other school teachers started in 1977 in Pontiac, Michigan.What started as a summer side gig turned out to be a scam they didn't realize they'd bought into… a pyramid scheme left them holding millions of worms nobody wanted. After pivoting to nightcrawlers, they got a meeting with Kmart, and the rest is history.DMF Bait became the number one product in its department, then built out shipping nationwide, and grew into a company moving 300 million worms a year out of seven buildings.In this episode of The BLTnT Podcast, we covered: → How a red worm scam turned into a nightcrawler business → The letter that saved the company's shot at Kmart → Acquiring a competitor and what the due diligence looked like on paper routes → Rebuilding company culture through Vistage and EOSThanks to Dan for pulling back the curtain on the wholesale bait industry. I appreciate you making the time on this podcast brother!Chapters0:00:00 Intro0:01:43 Meet Dan Beaudoin and DMF Bait0:06:17 The Red Worm Scam That Started It All0:16:23 Landing Kmart and Nearly Losing It0:34:19 Finding Vistage and Facing the Culture Problem0:42:31 Building the DMF Culture0:45:09 Why Live Bait Beats Every Lure on the Shelf0:55:39 Switching to a Biodegradable Cup in 20101:05:07 Acquiring Waltz and What They Learned1:12:06 The Night the Power Goes Out~~~Connect with Matthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/mattloria/https://www.facebook.com/mattloriahttps://www.instagram.com/loriamatt/Prefer to Listen?https://pod.link/1742631726This episode is powered by Auxiom.Finally ready to outsmart your IT chaos?https://auxiom.com/https://www.linkedin.com/company/auxiom-llc