ABOUT THIS EPISODE
He built a company out of a barn and retired at 37. Then a voice in his head said, "I bet you can't do it again." So why did he answer it?
Dru Riess leads ILS Gummies, a McKinney, Texas manufacturer that formulates and makes nutraceutical wellness gummies for other brands. It has 400+ employees, six private equity firms invested, and plans for a second campus by 2028. It has no sales reps, pays no commissions and does no trade shows, and in Dru's words, "our website doesn't even work." The business comes in by word of mouth. Before this, he was a lead singer whose band fell apart, a server back at P.F. Chang's with a college degree, and a 24-year-old sleeping on a cot next to an old printing press in a barn. He built that press into Popular Ink, sold it twice, and went home at 37. He didn't stay home.
In this conversation:
- The voices that pulled him off the couch after he retired: "I bet you can't do it in a different industry. I bet you can't do it without the people that did it with you last time."
- Looking in the mirror after college and seeing, in his words, "a loser," and the jobs and seasons God used later: the stage, the cubicle cold calls, the restaurant.
- The barn: a $3,000 draw for one month, 20 acres he mowed before anything else, snakes and mice, and customers like Hormel and Abbott.
- The day the owner pushed him and his partner Ray out with nothing in writing, and the customer who said, "We do business with Dru and Ray. We don't do business with you."
- How he leads 400+ people now: no ego, "drop the title and go do that task. It starts with me."
- Why he says entrepreneurship isn't for everyone: "I paid my people and I just prayed."
- What he's building at home: humility and gratitude for his kids, and a 10-year-old son learning a P&L by running his own gym and giving the extra away.
"In my mind, when I walked out there, I saw Willy Wonka's factory. I saw something beautiful because I saw opportunity." — Dru Riess, on the barn
Chapters
00:00 Welcome: Tanya introduces Dru Riess
01:07 Not a one-hit wonder: "I bet you can't do it again"
06:44 Back to the beginning: the band, the mirror, P.F. Chang's
14:10 The barn, the printing press and the $3,000 draw
30:30 ILS Gummies today: what they make and who they serve
47:44 Being a dad: humility, gratitude and a 10-year-old's gym
54:35 Why entrepreneurship isn't for everyone
59:39 You die twice: legacy and the send-off he never got
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Make It Count is hosted by Tanya Waymire, an executive coach since 2015 and NLP Master Practitioner. She builds people and portfolios, and this is where she asks the questions most people skip.
