Say Yes and Figure It Out: The Entrepreneur’s Mindset with Jeffrey Dakin
What if saying "yes" could change your entire life? Jeffrey Dakin knows all about taking bold risks and turning ideas into reality. From running construction crews to inventing game-changing products, Jeffrey’s journey is all about trusting yourself and figuring it out along the way.
In this episode, Jeffrey dives into the power of building teams, embracing discomfort, and the mindset that landed him on Shark Tank. If you’re ready to break free from doubt and take bold action, this conversation is your sign to go for it.
Tune in and discover the mindset that turns ideas into success stories.
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
How saying “yes” unlocked endless opportunities for Jeffrey
The story behind The Scrubbie and its Shark Tank journey
Building a business by embracing risks and figuring things out along the way
Why the right team can make or break your entrepreneurial journey
Learning to navigate rejection and use it as fuel for growth
The importance of confidence and trusting your gut
Jeffrey’s advice to his 18-year-old self: “Just go for it.”
The mindset shift that separates dreamers from doers
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
""If you want it, you can make it happen. It all starts with saying yes." – Jeffrey Dakin
"Confidence is key. Say yes, figure it out later, and never be afraid to fail." – Jeffrey Dakin
"The best way to predict the future is to create it." – Jeffrey Dakin
"Surround yourself with people who lift you up — your network is your net worth." – Courtney Turich
"Every bold move starts with a single step. Don’t overthink it — just take action." – Courtney Turich
About Jeffrey Dakin
Jeffrey Dakin is an inventor, entrepreneur, and master builder of big ideas. From running multi-million-dollar construction projects to taking The Scrubbie to Shark Tank, his journey is all about saying "yes" and figuring things out along the way. Jeffrey’s bold mindset has helped him turn creative sparks into successful products, proving that confidence and action are the keys to unlocking opportunity.
In this episode, Jeffrey shares the power of embracing discomfort, trusting your instincts, and building the right team to bring ideas to life. Whether you’re chasing a dream or facing a challenge, his story is a reminder that bold moves and confident choices can lead to incredible success.
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Stay Connected with Courtney Turich:
A Team Dklutr Production
BLOG TRANSCRIPT
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Courtney Turich: Hi friends. And today's episode we're chatting with Jeffrey Dakin, who's made bold moves and confident choices to build something incredible. And a little secret. He was on Shark Tank. We'll dive into his journey, the key lessons learned and some surprising insights along the way. So a little bit about our incredible guests.
Jeffrey is an inventor. entrepreneur and master builder of businesses and big ideas from building multimillion dollar projects to diving into the shark tank. Jeffrey is a true innovator and entrepreneur. He took the scrubbie, his game changing Innovation to shark tank season 12 episode 22, but that's just one piece of his story with multiple patents across various industries and 20 years as a national commercial contractor.
He's mastered the art of building, whether it's teams. Businesses are big ideas. Get ready for an inside look at grit, strategy, and bold moves that have fueled his journey. So Jeffrey, thank you so much for being here on Bold Moves Confident Choices.
Jeffrey Dakin: It's my pleasure. That was a great introduction, and I don't really like to toot my own horn, but yeah, it's all sounds pretty accurate, and I think that this is a perfect podcast to get on and talk about some bold moves and confident choices that we make throughout our business journey and life journey.
Courtney Turich: It's all kind of collaborating together and, trying to do amazing things, Well, I'm excited, Jeffrey, because I do know you have something. so much to share with us. But before we jump into some of those big questions, tell us just a little bit more about you.
The Bold Leap Into Entrepreneurship
Jeffrey Dakin: Sure. Well, I thought I've always had too many million dollar ideas not to have a million dollars from one of them, right?
And so I've always been an inventor and thinking how we can improve things. And my dad was the same way. he's a dentist, a practicing dentist here in Kansas and he said, you could come be a dentist too and take over practice. But, school was, wasn't my, forte, I guess. And I've always been, uh, super creative.
And when I went to college, it was for computer graphic design. and then I ended up moving to Florida. to give dolphin tours at age 21. I had a buddy that lived in Destin, Florida, and asked if I wanted to come out there and work for the summer, so at 21, I gave dolphin tours and rented jet skis on the beach, and then from there, just kind of taking life for what it is and seizing the day and seizing the opportunities.
And, then I had another buddy that had a restoration company that was operating in Gulfport, Mississippi, which is close to Destin and said, Jeff, come up here and help me run some crews for. This project that we're working on. So that's when I first started kind of getting into contracting was during hurricane Katrina.
And, I remember asking my buddy, it's like, man, you know, your dad, your family owns this business. That's taken on this huge project. They brought a hundred temp workers in from Mobile, Alabama down to Gulfport. And it was kind of just like my friend group. Created this 5 million project to build and rebuild so I knew that there was an opportunity and that there was means to creating, a lot of capital with the amount of work that you do.
Just got to be strategic about where you put your time and efforts. And so from there that I remember asking him, I said. how much is your dad charging for this project? He said five million dollars. And I was like, wow, and we got done in a month. And so I was like, this guy, you know, they're making five million dollars a month.
Maybe I should try to be a GC and contractor. And then, so basically from there, I bought a bunch of my own tools and started, I was a trim carpenter at first and I got into drywall and roofing and painting. building everything and then I started getting more projects than I could physically handle myself so then I started hiring crews of people to do things and then that turned it into we started building hotels and senior living homes and apartment complexes across the nation So I had several projects going on at the same time throughout the country And I was flying back and forth and running hundred man crews to build these projects and then so It was an awesome learning experience.
You can, learn in how to deal with other people and customer relations and, invoicing and, the whole kind of general contract and, business and then hit. let me back up a little bit. So during this process, I remember having this conversation with the guy one time I told him about this idea that I had just like we're at a bar and I said something about Lighter that didn't need a flame right and it's like maybe it was like an electric You coil system that could be.
And then two years later, electric lighter came out and then I was like, man, I'm tired of seeing all these ideas that I have, end up in Walmart, two years later. And so I started, I had some capital. And so I started looking into. The patent process. And so my first patent was, actually called the hitch ball weight meter, or the accuto.
It was a receiver hitch that connected to the back of your truck and it told your tongue weight and your toe weight of a trailer being pulled. And so we started making some moves on that. We contact mechanical engineering company and they started, built some machines for testing. And then we realized the next phase.
Just for the electrical components was going to be a few 100, 000 and then so talking to them and then as millions of dollars and testing for the, K dot Department of Transportation and everything and so for the first run, this wasn't, less for willing to invest millions of dollars with some people do on their first products, which, you know, is admirable, but we went around mechanical engineers.
They said, Do you have another product that's maybe a lower cost idea that we could possibly do? Okay. You know, help you out with and at that time we did a patent search on what I was calling the scrubbie, as an attachment that connect to your kitchen sink sprayers and had the sponge on the end of it and they said, we love this idea, we can actually help you, engineer and create 3D renderings of,
a product that could be patentable and to specs of all the sprayers on the market, So we had these genius engineers help us from the very beginning then we created 3d renderings to 3d printed prototypes And which we did some testing and then we found, after five or six different 3D printed prototypes.
We end up having a product that we thought worked really well. And then we went to manufacturing. And so, from manufacturing, we ordered 1000 units. And, just being resourceful, like as a GC, if I needed a drywall guy in Tucson, Arizona. I would just blow up Google and then have, 10 people show up and then kind of, give them an interview of what I think their skills and abilities are and then find the best ones.
And then, so that's kind of what I did for manufacturing and found a company that we thought that was going to help us out. We ordered a thousand units and we started with the branding. And then I had my other buddy, Matt, he was on shark tank. So he was involved and brought his other buddy Tyler and, because Tyler's family has, some capital that they're willing to invest into the product.
And I said, yeah, you know, bring him in. let's build this. We started doing the branding and, our website and all of our logos and everything, and started building a brand around it. Then we went to a trade show And then sold out. Well, we sold 300 or so, that's all that could fit in Matt's vehicle at the time.
And, so we sold out a product and then after that, you know, I was still a general contractor, still fun. the Scubby was all, it was kind of a, was definitely a side project that we were just trying to play with and see what we can do and see if it got any traction. so we went to a trade show, sold out, and then for the next year, we didn't go back to another trade show, so a year later we went back to the same trade show that where we were at and then sold out again.
And then people were saying, you guys are great. We'd bought your product last year. And we're still using the same sponges and we love you guys. You guys should be on Shark Tank. And it's like, well, yeah, that would be great if we were on Shark Tank. And then the next day after our second trade show, we got asked to be on shark tank.
Courtney Turich: Wow. So how did that happen though? Real fast. Jeff, how did, you submit your information to shark tank or how did you get the
Jeffrey Dakin: call? Matt got a call. I'm not sure how they got his number, but we did have a marketing lady that. Reached out to a bunch of different companies and just try to help us maybe kind of license it and see what we could do with it.
And so I'm finding out that she is actually the original one that submitted our an application for us and then we got a call. So it's out of the blue. I didn't, put in any, fill out the information for Shark Tank. And so it's kind of, a big surprise for us. And super cool. I know. And so we got asked and I said, yes, of course, let's do it.
And then that's right. When Covid hit, you know, it was in February of 2020, as with the last trade show. when we got asked and then Covid hit, the next month. And so all my contracting projects. Slowed down to halt because they know, traveling purposes and different things and then, but that's also when we had to do all of our due diligence and for the shark tank and, you know, all the, patent process and making sure that all your trademarks are solid and patents are solid and through their attorneys to make sure your legit brand and background checks, you know, all about that.
Oh
Courtney Turich: yeah. How long was, how long did that take for you all?
The Shark Tank Journey
Jeffrey Dakin: Six months, six months from when we found out to when we went to Las Vegas, and so we're in quarantine for 10 days at the Venetian. it was, awesome experience, right? can say, Oh, well, we were locked up in a hotel room, but I was enjoying every bit of it.
fresh air would have been nice, of course, but we had three five star meals a day and they took care of us. But, we knew ourselves. We only sold, less than a thousand because that's all we had and we knew what our sales were and we were confident, what we could get our price down to.
Courtney Turich: And that we went in there, full of confidence Hold on. So Jeffrey, who were your sharks? Can you share who your sharks were?
Jeffrey Dakin: Sure, yeah, we had, Mark was there, and then there was Kevin, and Daniel, and Lori, I think that was. And Daniel was the guest
Courtney Turich: shark, right? Yeah,
Jeffrey Dakin: Daniel was the kind bar.
Courtney Turich: Yes.
Jeffrey Dakin: Yeah. And then Robert. we were in there for over an hour, they aired about eight minutes of it. We're a little controversial, I guess you could say, on our, episode.
Courtney Turich: Why? Um,
Jeffrey Dakin: well, Lori compared us to another company, our logo. She compared our logo to another one of her companies that she invested into.
And I don't think that sat right with her, obviously. But we ended up explaining to her that we actually reached out to that company. three months earlier before we were asked to be on Shark Tank to see if they wanted to do a licensing deal. It's like, hey, maybe you guys could put your sponges on the end of our product.
We sent them a product and they said, this is actually, you know, good job for doing what you've done, but we're working on things internally. And so we actually thought that other company. Helped us get on shark tank. Like, Oh, these guys just want to check and make sure our patents are solid and trademarks are solid, and maybe we can make a deal with Lori.
And so you're a little blindsided, I guess you could say about, when we went in there and they're saying that we were controversial or, but I knew that the other company had our product and I knew that going into doing all the due diligence and background checks that our patents were solid and our trademarks were solid.
And so in business, you're going to try to get pushed around. And if you're the little guy, you're going to be careful of the big guy's foot, trying to squash or whatever. we ended up telling Lori inside the tank that didn't air that we reached out to him and it could have been something and hopefully that she could reach out to him and we could still make a deal.
And so this whole time, we're still thinking that something could happen. And then they aired and then they kind of how they aired it was they wanted drama, right? They wanted, they want, I watched it.
Courtney Turich: They wanted to get fired. They got fiery. And that's the one thing about Shark Tank.
The Scrubbie: From Aha Moment to Product Launch
Jeffrey Dakin: Yeah. It's TV. they were actually all really nice to us, in real life. You know, we were in there for over an hour. They edited some of the parts in and out to, for the drama purposes, but all in all, I think that went. as well as it could. I mean, everything happens for a reason.
We didn't make a deal on the tank, but afterwards we're reached out to and blown up by every company looking for a licensing deal or we were offered several buyout options. we're trending on Reddit and saying your logo doesn't look anything like this other guys, your logo is actually way better than these other guys and you guys should just work together.
And You know, being compared to hundred million dollar company isn't necessarily a bad thing, right? It kind of gets some brand awareness, but also being on Shark Tank puts you in front of millions of people right away. And so that's what we're looking for. We're not here to take anybody's idea.
I came up with the idea after dinner one night. my wife was cooking and I did the dishes and I was taking this old spray gun and I was spraying the dishes with it. And then I end up, you know, while the water is coming out and I'm scraping the plate with the sprayer to get the last bit of food off.
And I thought if I put a sponge on the end of it, it would be more effective and more efficient. And that's where the aha moment, I guess, came from. But immediately I thought The scrubbie, it's called the scrubbie. And then I looked it up and the trademark was available and the. com was available. So bought it, purchased it.
And so it started moving forward with the scrubbie and I never was
Courtney Turich: born. The
Jeffrey Dakin: scrubbie is born. Yeah. Our, patent attorney said, you should call it like the scrub blaster or something crazy. Or, and I was like, it's called the scrubbie. It's easy. It's nice. That makes sense. It's just the scrubbie.
And now if you look up the ours pops up, but a lot of other variations of the word with the K or with the wire, it is what it is. And so
Courtney Turich: it still exists.
Jeffrey Dakin: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We're still definitely operating the scrubbie. We're in different, we're in all interesting positions right now.
So we have, we're in front of a bunch of different retailers right now. And. We're also in the negotiations with a licensing deal right now as well. So we could, right. And thank you. So we could end up, releasing the business to this other company. It's a big company that with royalties that would come in and I think that sounds great.
If it was my only company, my only idea, then I wouldn't even consider it. But we do have. I do have seven other products and businesses that we actually started since being on Shark Tank. As an entrepreneur, and as a business owner, and as a contractor and building teams, it's like, I've still got ideas, right?
You are an
Courtney Turich: inventor.
Jeffrey Dakin: I an inventor. Yes. And so I have these ideas and then I find people, well, becomes friends. And then we're like, well, what can you do? What can you do? Oh, actually, I got an idea that's in this market. It's like, maybe we can work together. What do you think about this? And then so now I've created business partnerships and relationships with other Shark Tank entrepreneurs that were on the show for other products, going to these Shark Tank reunions every year.
And then now we have, several times a year we have meetups and different states and, um, We were just in Tampa a couple of weeks ago for the shark tank reunion. Were you there?
Courtney Turich: That's awesome. No, I've never joined a reunion and I need to get more involved back into the community because I sold my shares quite a while ago.
and once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur, people there
Jeffrey Dakin: that of my partners, he sold his company before I met him, but he was on, he made a deal with Kevin O'Leary and then they end up selling the company, but he still goes. And then that's when I met him. And then he had some open time, to help out with our, business.
And so it's a great
Courtney Turich: community,
Jeffrey Dakin: great community network is net worth, right. And as a contractor, I used to. hang out with other guys that were contractors like roofers or, concrete guys or drywallers or whatever. And it's just like, if we know the people that can do it, then we might end up taking on extra projects.
It's like, I know a hundred roofers. So if I find someone's like, Hey, can you do roofs? And I'm a contractor, so I can definitely do ROFs. We got a hundred guys I can call right now to get up on a ROF and give you multiple estimates. And so that's how I was kind of, figuring how I could be successful in the product development is by utilizing some of my contracting abilities that I've built over the years to build teams of people.
Courtney Turich: And then now we have several businesses and several products that. I bring other people in, better together is what I keep hearing from you. Like bring in your tribe, bring in the people where their strengths are and let them shine.
Jeffrey Dakin: Right? Absolutely.
Courtney Turich: So Jeffrey, I've got to jump into this big question because we could talk about shark tank entrepreneurship all day.
But what would you say was the bull mover confident choice that took things to the next level for you?
Say Yes and Figure It Out: The Entrepreneur’s Mindset
Jeffrey Dakin: Well, In business, I think it was whenever I'd said, I'm just not going to say no when somebody asked me if I can do this project for them, right? Like as a trim carpenter, when I started out.
And now it's like, can you do drywall? It's like, yes. I remember first time I ever did a concrete job, this old lady or this older lady, I shouldn't say old ladies, but she said, Oh, can you do my concrete patio after I'm doing some siding for her? And I said. Yes, ma'am, I can do some concrete, and then I just googled concrete contractors, and then had a guy meet me out there, then he gave me a bid, I walked around to the front, added 20 percent to it, and I was like, ma'am, this is your cost, and she's like, oh, okay, thank you, here, let's do it, and so, well, now I officially do concrete, I remember that drive I had is like, man, I can't say no to these people because they're asking me.
Can you do this? Can you do this? It's like no man, but I can get I can give you the guy's number and then I was losing money and so instead of I was able to utilize my connections and abilities to continue to grow and then from there then we started building hotels apartments and traveling around, New York and Tucson and San Diego and texas and North Dakota and all Chicago and New York and all over.
So, you know,
Courtney Turich: Jeff, I mean, going back to just being that entrepreneurial mindset that you have an inventor, this bold move that you acknowledge of where it's like the aha of never say no, just has you keep inventing and reinventing and innovating yourself. Over and over and over again. So you truly are an inventor at heart.
It's really awesome to listen to this because I hear it. I see it from you.
Jeffrey Dakin: Thank you. I really appreciate that. that's my whole life. before we started this podcast, I showed you a little piece of my ranch and I've always wanted horses and I've always wanted chickens and now I got horses and chickens and a beautiful wife and two beautiful sons and so, you know, we're, create, the best way to predict the future is to create it, right?
Yeah. So I didn't come up with that quote. I can't remember exactly who did, but that was a good one because like, what do we want to do? It's like, I'm not really sure what's happening. Later today, but I know I have meetings later today and we're gonna make the best of every potential outcome,
yeah.
Courtney Turich: And if you have to make, you have to write the email, you have to make the phone call. And if you don't work, nothing will, right? And so we got to put it all out there. and that's the fun part is just trying to do something and then seeing if it works.
So Jeffrey, if anybody, if everybody has great ideas, Everybody's, especially after watching shark tank, people like to really get creative.
Courtney Turich: If somebody has an idea and it's burning inside of them, what would you tell them?
Jeffrey Dakin: I actually see this all the time. I have a consulting company that we help other inventors and, product developers with their products. and I've seen some crazy ideas. And then the first thing I do, and I tell people to do is Google it.
this folding surfboard, for example, this guy contacted me and said, I got this idea for his folding surfboard. It's so great. I got all these drawings and everything set up. I'm like, Oh, that's a pretty good idea. I'm going to look it up. And then there's a hundred other folding surfboards.
It's like, man, you know, the market's already pretty saturated. And you know, you got your cost of production and it's liability if you're going on a big wave and it snaps and then people died. so the first thing is Google it, try to shut it down yourself, right? If you're looking it up and you're looking on Google of,
An attachment like the scrubbie, a sponge attachment that connects to your kitchen sink sprayer. There's nothing like it on the market. We own that market. we have four patents with a bunch of different, claims to them. So we own the, where the sponge and water meet, for outdoor garden hoses.
And we're adding more products to our collection as we speak, so I'd say try to find out if it already exists is the number one thing. And a lot of people don't really do that. They just think, ah, I got a good idea. Jeff, what do you think about this? It's like, oh, well, let's look it up.
Oh, here it is. Or, oh, that's not an idea. Maybe we could put a little bit of research into it. Then after the Google. You go to a patent search and then you can go to your patent attorney or you can go to the USPTO, which is United States Patent and Trademark Office, and search up, trademarks, for example, or look up prior art, they call it, for patents and seeing if something like that does exist.
For the scrubbie, We had an attorney do our, patent searches and send us back over 100 prior art, they call it, of different products that weren't like the scrubbie, but that could be something along the lines of a brush and a sprayer, but not the same. So we knew that we weren't infringing on any of them.
A lot of them were, old. And another thing about patents is after 20 years, it becomes public domain. So like a zipper or Velcro. So if you have an idea that's been around for a long time, but you can put two different things together, then you can create something that could be patentable.
Courtney Turich: Fascinating. Okay. So everybody, you hear it. If you have an idea, do everything you can to try to shut it down first. to make sure it doesn't exist. That is really great advice, Jeff. Okay, we've got to move on to this next question I have for you. It's a big one. Are you ready?
Jeffrey Dakin: Always.
Courtney Turich: So Jeffrey, what would you tell your 18 year old self today?
Jeffrey Dakin: Go for it. Just do it. Just do it. I mean, that's why I've kind of, I grew up wakeboarding and snowboarding and riding motocross and, going mud and four wheel drive trucks and kind of pushing limits and hitting throttles and kind of just, you got to pin it to win it. that's a model they say and motocross is you got to pin it to win it.
And so if you're not trying. then you're not doing anything. And so the worst thing that you could do is, not go for it, then have regrets. my last job was, I guess, in Hurricane Katrina, working for my buddy. And then before that was giving dolphin tours. And then since then I've been a entrepreneur, you know, I started my first Lawn mowing company at like 16 years old, with my buddy that actually had the restoration company I met with in, uh, Mississippi.
So
Courtney Turich: it's in your blood, is in your blood, right? love that. Go for it. So Jeffrey, before we end here today, is there anything you want to leave the audience?
The Power of Confidence and Surrounding Yourself with the Right People
Jeffrey Dakin: It's all in your mind. I think everything is all in your mind. So if you want it, you can do it. I'm not sure about how manifestation works and things, but if you see it and you understand it and you follow all the roadmap to success, then anything is possible. People have made millions of dollars.
People are making billions of dollars, but what's their daily routines, right? They're not waking up at 9 a. m. or drinking every night or, no offense to anybody that does. I don't anymore because I realized that. I still have cocktail every now and then, but I can't say that,it's all in your mind.
It's, if you want it, you can get it. you can persuade yourself not to do something easier than you can almost persuade yourself to do something. And so, but it only an email, how long does an email take five minutes, maybe, right? Especially with. AI and chat GPT. It's like putting some prompts. It's like, Oh, well, actually, this sounds really good.
And then how long does a phone call take? How long does a, going to these networking events and showing up, being in the right place and being, poorest person in the room is not a bad thing. Right. Cause that means you're surrounding yourself with successful people. And I remember.
Being Tampa recently and going to dinner with some of these high profile people and they're talking about, you know, I sold my company for 40 million and we did a hundred million last year and all this other stuff. And I'm like, man, this is, and then they're arguing about who's paying for dinner. And I'm like, I'm in the right table.
And then you want to surround yourself with that. You know, I'm now friends with these people. And, You know, you want to put yourself in the right rooms and you got to have confidence. Confidence is key there's a theory called the basket case theory i'm, not sure if you know about it's if you could put anybody on a pedestal like Michael Jordan, for example, is like, oh, he's so great and so good.
But once you start to get to know him and it's like, Oh, he has a little bit of flaw here. And Oh, maybe that. And then come down to it. Everybody's a human. Everybody's a person. Everyone has their own thoughts and ways and, No one is untouchable. No, it's perfect. And no one is untouchable. And, we can be in those rooms with the people and make the decisions and create business relationships with other people.
So I say, go for it. It's all in your mind. If you want it, it can happen. confidence is key.
Courtney Turich: love that Jeffrey. And I have to tell you the past three interviews I've had, everybody has stressed the power of the mind. So you just tie that all together again. Please, please take control of your mindset.
Everyone. It is powerful. It is the biggest muscle you have. It takes work, but you can do it. So Jeffrey, as we leave here today, where can people find you?
Jeffrey Dakin: I'm on LinkedIn, Jeffrey M. Dakin and Facebook,you can be my friend. You can follow me on Instagram or go to the scrubbie. com and order a scrubbie or our TikTok shop and Amazon, basically all the proper places.
You can Google my name as well and find a whole bunch of pretty interesting topics, I guess you could say as well. So,
Courtney Turich: and a bunch of shark tank clips.
Jeffrey Dakin: Bunch of suction clips. Yeah. Yeah.
Courtney Turich: Jeffrey, thank you so much for being here today. You brought so much to the surface for us. Number one, it is so cool to see how you have that spirit inside to just keep inventing, but also to surround yourself with people while you do it, not to do it alone and just go for it.
Get out of your head. And be confident.
Jeffrey Dakin:
Courtney Turich: thank you so much for listening today. And as we leave here, as always go be bold, be confident and be you. Thanks.
Jeffrey Dakin: Thank you.
