The 7 Hats

Sam Ne'bel turned a taboo into a trailblazing brand. From yelling down hallways for baby wipes as a kid to co-founding Goodwipes. Now the fastest-growing flushable wipe company in the U.S., Sam’s journey is one of grit, obsession, and reinvention. But behind the bold branding and retail blitz is a deeper story: one of burnout, breathwork, and the shift from doer to leader. This isn’t just about toilet talk—it’s about building a business that doesn’t wipe you out.

Summary:

In this refreshingly candid episode, Sam shares how a lifelong love for cleanliness led to a national hygiene revolution. From frat house meet-cutes to retail shelf wars, Sam walks us through the bootstrapped, butt-wipe-fueled journey of building Goodwipes.

We delve into everything from burnout and breathwork to the realities of trade spend and team-building. Sam opens up about the sacrifices he made in the early years... love, health, even fitness, and how he’s now rebuilding a multidimensional life that goes beyond entrepreneurship.

This episode is a masterclass in turning consumer behavior into category creation, without losing your sanity.

🎩 Hats Covered:

• Hat 1: The Soul
• Hat 2: The Athlete
• Hat 3: The Servant
• Hat 4: The Entrepreneur

💡 Key Takeaways:

🎩 1: You can’t pour from an empty cup or a depleted self.
🎩 4: Creating a category takes time. Years. Even decades.
🎩 3: A team that believes in the mission will carry it farther than capital.
🎩 2: Movement is non-negotiable. Your body keeps the score.
🎩 1: Wellness is leadership. And leadership starts with breath.
🎩 4: Trade spend will drain you if you don’t watch it.

👤 Guest Bio:

Sam Ne'bel is the co-founder of Goodwipes, a hygiene brand rewriting the rules of the bathroom aisle. What began as a college joke turned into a mission and then a movement. From bootstrapping out of his parents’ house to landing shelves in Target, Walmart, and Kroger, Sam is proof that conviction (and clean butts) can move markets. When he’s not building a billion-dollar brand, you’ll find him breathworking, spearfishing, or just trying to live a cool life outside of work.

⏱️ Timestamps:

• 00:02 – Sam’s childhood obsession with wipes
• 00:12 – Meeting his co-founder in a fraternity bathroom
• 00:24 – Early entrepreneurial grit and the festival circuit
• 00:35 – Turning down a franchise to bet on Goodwipes
• 00:45 – The slow burn of building a bootstrapped brand
• 01:00 – When burnout hit, and what filled his cup again
• 01:10 – Fitness, therapy, breathwork, and boundaries
• 01:20 – Why trade spend nearly wiped them out
• 01:30 – Retail expansion, validation, and Kroger lessons
• 01:40 – From doer to leader: Sam’s inner transformation
• 01:50 – The 10-year vision and the power of cool hobbies

✅ Actionables:

• Block time every day to move, no matter what.
• Track trade spend like your life depends on it (it does).
• Find a hobby that has nothing to do with business.
• Schedule a break, not just meetings.
• Revisit your role: Are you leading, or still doing?

🔥 Quotes:

“Sacrifice is not a sustainable strategy.”
“You can’t be interesting to others if you’re not interesting to yourself.”
“We didn’t just create a brand—we created a category.”
“Wipes were never the joke. They were the revolution.”
“Success is getting to cheer on someone doing your old job 10x better.”

🔗 Links:

• Goodwipes Website
• Follow @goodwipes on Instagram
• Sam’s Hygiene Revolution Tour (Coachella, Stagecoach, more)

If you think wellness ends with the gym and starts with your hustle, Sam’s story will challenge everything you believe. Because success doesn’t mean staying clean, it means not losing yourself in the mess.