Hi Everyone,

Happy Friday! Thanks for spending part of it reading The Lake Street Journal.

This week we're talking about Walmart's detergent pyramid, speed limits, and David Senra's lessons on entrepreneurship. Let's get into it.

An Unbelievable Amount of Soap

The laundry detergent was stacked 18 cases high, 12 feet wide, and 100 feet long. It filled the whole back aisle of the Walmart in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

This detergent pyramid became one of the most famous promotions in Walmart history, and it was the brain child of store manager Phil Green.

Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, recounts the story in his book, Made in America.

"When all of us in the Bentonville office saw how much [detergent] he'd bought, we really thought old Phil had completely gone over the dam," remembered Walton. "This was an unbelievable amount of soap."

An unbelievable amount of soap at an unbelievable price.

Old Phil worked out a deal with the supplier to get a dollar off per case. The only catch? He had to buy 3,500 cases.

But Phil wasn't worried. He ran a promotion for detergent at a 50% discount and figured it would sell pretty quickly.

"Mr. Sam usually let me do whatever I wanted on these promotions because he figured I wasn't going to screw it up," Phil said of the detergent stunt. "But on this one he came down and said, 'Why did you buy so much? You can't sell all of this!' But the thing was so big it made the news, and everybody came to look at it, and it was all gone in a week."

3,500 cases of detergent gone in a week.

Walmart is a company built on discounting and promoting. Especially in the early days, the team was scrappy in finding the best deals and promoting them to customers. The discounting and promoting got people in the door. And that culture of scrappy risk taking is what helped the company grow.

Sam Walton encouraged and supported it.

"I think a lot of companies would have fired Phil for that one," said Sam, "but we always felt we had to try some of this crazy stuff."

As we discussed a couple weeks ago, hiring great people and supporting their decisions is a great strategy for any leader. When people feel they have unconditional support, they're more creative, they take more risks, and they achieve outsized results.

If you want those results, create that supportive environment. Empower your people to buy an unbelievable amount of soap.

There's No Speed Limit

LSJ reader Luis M. responded to my last email to remind me of this piece from Derek Sivers.

Last week we talked about speed being negotiable. High agency people—and great leaders—can make things happen faster than most reasonable people think possible.

This idea of speed being negotiable is a super valuable mindset, and the more examples we see, the more likely we are to apply it ourselves.

This short article from Sivers is about how he earned his bachelor's degree in two and a half years. Coincidentally, Jay Yang also shares this story in his book, You Can Just Do Things, which I mentioned last week.

The most important point from the article: "The standard pace is for chumps. If you’re more driven than most people, you can do way more than anyone expects."

Thanks again, Luis, for resurfacing this one!

David Senra on Invest Like the Best

Patrick O'Shaughnessy is a great interviewer. David Senra is my favorite podcast guest. Any time these guys have a conversation, I listen. Often two or three times.

In their most recent discussion, Senra talked about focus—what he has determined to be the single most important trait of entrepreneurs after reading 400 biographies on them.

The ability to focus on one thing for decades is what creates outsized business success.

He also shares a ton of stories on obsession, craftsmanship, and Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, a fascinating character who I always love learning about.

If you enjoy the Founder's podcast, love reading biographies, or are building a business, this is a can't-miss episode.

Workout of the Week

I've been seeing a ton of Hyrox workouts lately, and I wanted to do one of my own this week. I don't do a lot of wall balls, so they're always a welcome kick in the ass when I add them.

"Another Brick in the Wall"

5 rounds for time:

• 12 cal ski erg

• 15 wallballs

• 15 cal row

• 50m farmer's carry (53lb kettlebells)

This took me 18:27. Let me know how you do!

Quote of the Week

"Just because it's all you know don't mean it's all you'd enjoy." - Augustus McCrae

Have a question or a comment? Respond to this email.

Talk soon,

Joe