Former Introverted Student Achieves $4.8 Million in Career Sales and Total Flexibility

Karim El-Tawansy (00:00) I started selling Cutco when I was in college. I studied electrical engineering at UC Santa Barbara, and I was kinda your typical introverted, science-minded guy, And my mom's a realtor and she said, "You should go out and get some good people experience; working with people." So I stumbled across this job, figured it would be a summer job, and then I was doing really well. You know, making between $50,000 to $100,000 a year while being a full-time college student. And so I never made the conscious decision that "I'm going to sell knives for my career," but I've actually been with Cutco now 27 years, and it's been my primary income all those years. Hi, my name is Karim El-Tawansy I live out in Hawaii on the North Shore of Oahu in a town called Haleiwa. So currently my career sales are at about $4.8 million, and primarily now I sell to the federal program, which means that we are setting up on military bases at their exchange, and setting up Cutco booths there. I also do other traditional home shows, go back to California for things like the LA County Fair. And so that allows me to sell between $300,000 to about $450,000 per year. just working very few days per year. Cutco has what's called a GSA contract, Government Spending Account, which means that we're also hunting for those big orders where somebody might order a thousand pocket knives for the military, things like that. I also do business coaching, which started within Cutco. And now I coach for some realtors, roofers and some people in the solar industry as well. Through Vector, I definitely learned... pretty much most of the communication skills that I have. Being really comfortable talking to people anytime, anywhere. I married my high school sweetheart. So once I started selling Cutco, I actually got her into the business, and she did it for a couple years. I even had the experience of running an office out here in Hawaii and in California, and she helped on that side too. It kinda taught me early on that I could work really hard when I wanted to, which then gives me the freedom to play really hard when I want to. So like I said, I live on the North Shore. I'm actually staring at the ocean right now. I surf a lot, I kite board, I hike a lot, I mountain bike, I snowboard, I skateboard - got a ramp outside. And so it gives me the freedom and flexibility And most important, we have two amazing children. I was just talking to a friend about this the other day that I think part of why they're so amazing is because... my wife and I were always able to be here and present for them. We never had to put them in daycare. This job gave me the flexibility to work when I wanted and not work when I didn't want to. When I remodeled my house, I unplugged for six months, and kinda did most of work myself because I enjoy doing that kind of stuff. Like, last year, I worked 61 days and was able to sell just shy of $350,000. So this year I'm going to work a few more days because some good events popped up, and it should put me somewhere between $400 to half a million dollars in sales. So, Cutco's way different now for me than when I very first started. When I first started, I was an unconfident guy that looked at the ground nonstop. And so my first pitches, I didn't really have any people skills, but I was told if you follow the manual, if you follow the program, you're gonna be successful. The product is phenomenal, and so it's gonna speak for itself as long as you cover the major points. So my first presentations essentially were me holding up a binder like this with my script behind it. and me looking down like this. Now did have hair back then, but people would stare at my hair the whole time and then once in a while I'd pop my eyes over like this. I love what I do, I'm really good at what I do and it doesn't feel like I'm working very much because it really, like, what sales is, is just connecting with people, asking questions, finding a need and finding how we can help them fill those needs that they want to fill anyhow. And with a product like ours - the best of its kind, first in class - You're making happy people and happy customers out of everyone. About 70 % of my annual business comes from my past customers just adding on because we have a huge product line. Some customers have become some of my best friends actually, because I've been doing this so long, and we've kind of grown up together. I have friends that have left the business, went into the corporate world and then came back. And first thing I'd say is that it's a very different business now, probably than when you left. When I started, I started actually the year that the first person sold $100,000 in one year, to make $50,000. And now that actually happens in one week. I'm coaching a newer kid now, and he sold $25,000 last week, and he's only been in the business for a few years, and so... It's really like we've taken the business and it's just gone parabolic as far as the growth and what you can accomplish. And I've looked at some other things like that, but what I found is there's nothing quite like this. What I love is that I can go to an event, I can make 50 grand in a week or two, and then I can check out.