CEO of Rocktomic Labs, Ben Morgan, has played an integral part in the re-launching of this Atlanta, Georgia-based company through investments and assistance with scalability. With his help the company has grown from supporting just five unique brands to over 5,000 in only two years. Focusing on the producing of private label , Rocktomic allows clients realize their ambitions of launching their own brand of wellness products by providing them with quality merchandise at reasonable prices.
As a serial entrepreneur, Ben Morgan is active in investing in upcoming technology for his ventures. Currently he is operating and active in six different companies and is enjoying all the challenges and work requirements that are needed for success.
What do you love most about the industry you are in?
What I love most about both of my businesses, Anthem and Rocktomic, is that we’re developing entrepreneurs and I get to play an active role in that development. With Anthem, it’s about how to recruit, how to motivate, and how to hold personnel accountable. On the Rocktomic end, we help people who are just starting their own business, getting interested in e-commerce from scratch, or people without any experience. At Rocktomic we get to play an active role in helping shape their vision of what it means to be an entrepreneur and how to find success. We do Facebook live groups with Rocktomic, and we do all kinds of training to help motivate the salespeople.
For example, at Anthem we really stress what it is to be an entrepreneur to our employees. It’s the same thing with Rocktomic; we have a younger crowd, but we have some of the more seasoned entrepreneurs as well who are maybe trying to re-enter the market. They’ve retired but want to have something to keep them busy but have never done any e-commerce. Either way, we get to work with that entrepreneurial mindset which is something I’ve always had for myself. I started my first business when I was eight years old, mowing lawns and doing the basic stuff. That merged into aerating and then setting up Christmas lights, always hustling, always trying to do something to make more money and not be working a 9-to-5.
What keeps you motivated?
Every time you reach a new pinnacle of success, there’s another level beyond for you to reach. For me, entrepreneurship and business is a game. It’s a sport and I treat it like one. It’s competition and you’re always trying to level up.
How do you motivate others?
I think it depends on the person. It’s not a one-size-fits-all situation. With some people, I’m very firm on their door-to-door skills, and I will call them out if they’re not putting in the time to learn things the right way. On the other side, some people don’t want to be pushed. They just want to be shown the path and explore it themselves. It starts with asking good questions and understanding what motivates each individual person, and then building a relationship with them to be able to help them.
It’s a lot easier at Anthem to motivate than it is at Rocktomic. At Anthem, they’re still commission-based sales positions. The money is the motivator. But at some point, money is not enough. If you have a guy who’s very successful, come July when it’s hot and it’s uncomfortable to be outdoors, he’s got to have a different reason to work really, really hard and continue to do what we call “throwing down.” Some of these guys make north of half-a-million dollars in four months as 22-year-olds. To motivate that type of individual, it’s a different niche. Some of those guys need a ton of motivation. Other guys, are very self-driven and they just like the recognition.
How has your company grown from its early days to now?
The growth in both my companies has just been massive. We’ve had really, really good success with Rocktomic. From 5 brands to 5,000 in 24 months has never been done in our space. Most companies really focus on big movers, people that have already existing brands, and they just try to steal the manufacturing and supply side, but we’re focused more on brand creation. We’ve gotten really good at helping entrepreneurs through the steps in the process that are required. We’ve really fine-tuned that process for Rocktomic. And it’s similar at Anthem. We just continue to tell our story about how we’re helping 19-to-28-year-olds change their lives through learning the necessary sales skills.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
I get it from all over. I do a lot of reading and thinking. I read a lot of books and then try to apply all those different lessons in different ways. It’s funny, but my wife calls my showers “my big thinking.” I do a lot of my thinking in the shower. That’s where I come up with a lot of good ideas. I don’t know why.
Who has been a role model to you and why?
My early role model is named Jason Walton. He’s the chairman of Moxie. A lot of companies on the pest control side have spun off from Jason. I was 19 when I started working for him and continued to do so until I was about 25. I then worked for another industry professional that came up under Jason as well. Jason has influenced Moxie as well as dozens of other pest control companies. He taught a lot of lessons early on about looking at what you want and working really hard towards that goal. He taught me to take massive action.
How do you maintain a solid work life balance?
I don’t at all. I don’t believe there is a balance. I think work-life balance is a myth if you’re really trying to do something great and have a massive influence in people’s lives. But I do try to find that balance. I try to be present. If I’m doing something with my family, I try to go to airplane mode and totally disconnect. But with technology, I found that more and more difficult throughout my career. Technology has changed and I’ve become more and more connected to real time solutions. I think you have to intentionally unplug if you are going to try to find any balance. It’s definitely tough for me, especially running multiple businesses.
What traits do you possess that makes a successful leader?
One is the energy and the focus that goes with handling all the different things that come up to my plate that I have to deal with. It’s probably just proper delegation and time management. I use calendars and lots of other things to try to keep me on schedule. I’ve hired an assistant to intentionally invest in just being a little more plugged in to my duties and tasks. For example, half of our development team is over in India handling the tech side of our businesses and so there’s different hours at play. Sometimes I’m taking calls at midnight because that’s when their day is starting, and then trying to get my sleep in. It’s really a lot of time management. Just kind of piecing my day together in blocks of time to accomplish as much as possible.
What suggestions do you have for someone starting in your industry?
I think starting as an entrepreneur, you need to have a really clear vision of what you want to go build, and then sticking to your vision. Early on, I think a lot of people have ideas and those get changed. The idea itself gets manipulated over time because it may be may be too difficult. The initial thought we have a lot of times is usually the best. Focus on something that you enjoy and that you’re willing to work really, really hard for and then just try to do it better than anybody else.
What is the biggest life lesson you have learned?
The biggest life lesson I’ve learned is probably that time is not infinite and you have to be deliberate with the time you have. With four young kids and working as much as I do and as hard as I do, my oldest has definitely got the least amount of time with me and so I have tried to be intentional with my time allocation for the family. I wouldn’t call it balance, because it’s not balanced. I don’t try to live a balanced life. I try to live an exceptional one.
Outside of work, what defines you as a person?
I like to travel a lot with my family. We don’t have a lot of time together, but we do have a lot of quality time together. The time we do share, we’re really intentional with it. I do get good vacation time where I completely unplug and I turn my phone off. I’m not reachable until I get back.
I also try to be understanding and giving to my employees, neighbors, and community. We do still find a lot of time with both businesses to give back to the community and donate our time to different things.
What trends in your industry excite you?
With Anthem, I would say it’s the longevity of the customer and really taking care of them. A lot of companies have really tried to build up their value and then sell to one of the big guys. We’ve taken a different approach and really try to provide a lot of value. And it’s the same thing at Rocktomic. A lot of places nickel and dime every little thing and we have flat fees for product and fulfillment, which includes top-of-the-line everything.
Where do you see you and your company in 5 years?
We want to continue to scale and grow. I want to expand Anthem into other verticals, not just traditional pest control. I want to also add in some more technology services such as home security and solar, which are other revenue streams that can also be acquired through door-to-door and are easy parallels.
With Rocktomic, we’re launching and expanding that constantly. We just secured a new fulfillment center that’s about six times the size of our current one. We’re adding in more products, like CBD-based products and sport-certified products through NSF, which is the creme-de-la-creme of sports nutrition products. UFC fighters and NFL athletes could use NSF sport products and we’re bringing that in for one-off bottles. The plan is not to sell our business. A lot of other door-to-door companies or supplement-based companies are looking to have some type of acquisition. We’re not. We’re looking to continue to grow it and scale it and be kind of a household name. If you’re looking to start a supplement company, you do it with Rocktomic because that’s the best way to do it. If you are looking for home services, you look at Anthem.