Join host Brett Gilliland in an exclusive interview with Chip Wilson, the visionary founder of Lululemon. Discover the secrets behind Lululemon's rise to luxury brand status and Chip's entrepreneurial journey. Learn how he identified a new market in the '90s, created quality products at competitive prices, and embraced personal development for success.

**Key Highlights:**
- ?‍♂️ Unveiling the Yoga Apparel Revolution
- ? Investing in Overlooked Talent: Empowering Women in Business
- ? Chip Wilson's Focus 90 Strategy: Goal Setting for Success
- ? Taking Risks and Doing Meaningful Work: Advice to the Younger Self

Tune in to gain insights into Chip's "grind" of building a business, his timeless advice, and the impactful Focus 90 strategy. Don't miss this episode filled with inspiration and practical wisdom from the man who changed the game in athletic apparel!

#Lululemon #Entrepreneurship #SuccessStories #Focus90Strategy #BusinessInnovation

Watch HERE on Youtube!

 

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I'm your host, Brett Gilliland. And today,

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I'm so decided to be with an entrepreneur,

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an author. He is the founder of lululemon,

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and, his name is Chip Wilson Chip. How

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are you doing today? Fantastic, Brett. Fantastic. Awesome.

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Well, it's great to have you. It's, you've

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got a heck of a story, and I'm

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excited for our listeners to, hear that. Like,

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on every show, I always ask Chip is,

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it's a big question, but what what helped

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make you the man you are today? Cause

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you are more than, obviously, the father a

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five boys, a husband, an entrepreneur,

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and an author.

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What helps you make all those things?

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So everyone wondered how much is genetics and

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how much is environment, and I think I

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had the perfect amount of both. You know,

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as

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athletic, you know, a father who is an

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athlete and a mom who is, home sour.

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And then I then I think we just

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never had much money. Kind of that lower

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kinda middle class debt. It was a you

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don't make as much money as a phys

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ed teacher.

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And, but I think I had a lot

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of drive. And I think that that I

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sometimes wonder is that genetic, or is that,

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was I, you know, was that

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built into me. I don't know. But I

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feel like I just wanted to succeed. I

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wanted to find out what was going on

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in the world. I wanted to add all

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these ideas, and I wondered if everyone else

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had the same idea.

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And so that, that drive obviously helped you

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very much in the, in the in the

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business, but we'll we'll talk about Lululemon in

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a little bit, but I know you you

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got into what cert you had the surf

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company. You had a skate company, a snowboarding

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company,

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all sorts of stuff. So tell us about

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those.

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Well, when I graduated at a university, it's

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twenty five, so it's on the eight year

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bachelor program.

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I never know that.

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I started to do triathlons and that was

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I mean, that was a long time ago.

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So nineteen probably eighty, I guess. And that

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then there was only about ten people in

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the world doing triathlons.

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I had,

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I quickly found out that there was no

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good clothing, especially for that kind of distance

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and a lot of rushing, a lot of

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issues. And because my mom was a sower

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and had some ideas. I started making triathlon

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clothing, but, of course, there wasn't enough people

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to make it.

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I was originally from California San Diego and

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living in Canada.

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And,

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and so I

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with that, I started

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supplementing what I had and start bringing up

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surf gear from Gordon Smith and Stucy and

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O. B. Bellabaugh and quicksilver and that into

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Canada. Really the first person to bring that

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into Canada, kind of a a virgin territory

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for that market.

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And,

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And so I think that I just,

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that

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the travel and stuff didn't go, but the

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surf stuff went really well. And then That

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kind of had its rise and fall because

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you start in almost every industry. You start

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off with three businesses.

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It goes to five hundred and then falls

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to three again.

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And so as that was going up and

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falling, then skateboarding was coming up and then

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falling and then snowboarding,

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you know, came up and then started falling

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too. So I I followed those general trends.

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And so you followed those trends, and then

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you saw another trend, around mindfulness and yoga,

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and and you started this, this little company

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called lululemon.

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So talk to us about that. I'm I'm

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wearing lululemon pants right now too. Hope that's

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alright. I wear them all the time.

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Well, you never know what people are wearing

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behind the microphone. That's right. Sitting down.

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That's right.

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I think,

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like I said, I saw these, you

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know, athletic social trends, you know, rise and

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fall

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I had failed a couple times. I tried

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beach volleyball, and I tried mountain biking. But

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what I discovered is neither of those sports,

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which became big. No one wanted to look

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like that on the street.

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So,

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You know, I got I got I sold

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my Suresgate snowboard company,

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and I sat around for a Wilson, and

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I kinda looked around. And of course, I

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was injured from from falling a lot, snowboarding

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and skateboarding. So I started doing yoga

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first class that was in Vancouver type of

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thing, and I looked around and I went

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You know, this is gonna this is pretty

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cool. This is gonna be I could sense

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it went from six people to thirty people

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in one month

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And,

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and if I extrapolated back the seerskates snowboard

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business, I went, wow, this is gonna be

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just as big. And it's much opportunity.

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So I had an expertise in technical apparel,

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especially first layer of stretch for women that

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would went under snowboard clothing.

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And I just started making it, a version

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of that for yoga.

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And,

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and then I could go into a million

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