Mike’s Club - we make living cost less!
What if you could build a company that makes people stronger? What if you could provide a package of goods and services designed to reduce the cost of living and, through that, raise people's standard of living?
Those were the questions I asked myself when I first came up with the idea to start Mike’s Club. Those two questions are now our mission statement.
Regardless of service or product, most businesses are all about accumulating wealth. Companies make money and pass it up to owners and shareholders, who sometimes get so rich they can build rockets and fly into space!
But I see business differently. I am a USAF veteran, retired after 20 years, and I approach business the same way I approached my military career... as a service. Like Bezos and Musk, I'm building a global company too, but I’m going to use the wealth it generates to help people survive!
In this letter, I'd like to tell you what we do, how we plan to change the world, and how you can help!
What is Mike’s Club?
Mike’s Club is two things: a thrift store which sells donated second-hand goods, and a membership club that provides services designed to "make living cost less". The store is open to everyone. The club is an add-on, providing extra services to dues paying members.
The thrift store sells donated clothing, furniture, household necessities, and more, at very affordable prices. For example, we sell all clothing and shoes for only 50¢. On average, our customers buy more items, and spend more per visit, when buying from us than when buying similar items from competitors like Goodwill.
We receive a massive amount of high-quality donated items daily, from a growing base of very enthusiastic neighbors. People donate to us because (and they tell us this every day) they like what we do. Our store is large, and people know there’s a good chance we’ll have whatever they’re looking for. But more importantly, people know that, even if they can’t afford something they need, we’ll make sure they can get it. We give for free almost as much clothing as we sell; to the homeless, to a mother who just escaped an abusive relationship, or just to someone who is struggling and can’t afford to clothe their family. Along with clothing, we’ve given (or greatly discounted) cookware and other kitchen necessities, school supplies, and even furniture. We can also offer very easy installment plans, based entirely on what the customer can afford. Unlike most other businesses, our neighbors know they can turn to us in their time of need.
The fact that all our merchandise is donated is what makes this possible. And that supply of donations seems to be endless. We could honestly burn down the entire store and be fully restocked within two weeks.
The club part of Mike’s Club is essentially a subscription based Library of Things. For only $10 per month a member can borrow tools and equipment, like lawnmowers, power tools, ladders, etc, at no cost beyond the membership fee.
Members can also borrow DVD and VHS movies, and use in-store computers, printer, copier, etc. This part of rural Oklahoma has a significant number of people living below the poverty level, and the ability to borrow tools and movies, and to use computers, offers our members savings significantly greater than their $10 monthly membership fee.
And finally, there is one more element to Mike’s Club, which isn’t really a part of the thrift store or the membership club.
When we first launched, we sold low-cost groceries at break-even prices. The grocery section was a service to our customers, and brought new people into the store. When COVID hit, it became difficult to get stocks, so we decided to just give away what little groceries we had left, and get out of the grocery business. But when people in our community saw that we were giving groceries for free, they started donating more groceries! So we ran with that, and now our Little Free Grocery is a hugely popular part of what we do. The community loves it, and supports it generously. A Tulsa news channel even did a story on it!
These three elements (the Thrift Store, the Tools Library, and the Little Free Grocery) work together to make living cost less for anyone struggling to get by.
How do we plan to change the world?
It’s expensive to be poor. When you live on a limited income, the little things can eat you alive. Eating nutritious meals, doing laundry at a laundromat, keeping your home and car in good repair, all these things can cost more money than some budgets will allow. Mike’s Club plans to provide essential services, at zero-profit (and sometimes free) prices, to dues-paying members, in a package designed to reduce their cost of living. To be clear, we are not a non-profit business. Mike’s Club will generate revenue above our operating costs, primarily by charging membership fees and by selling donated merchandise. The services we provide to our members will be charged at "zero-profit" (break-even) pricing. The goal is not to provide free services, but rather to offer those services at prices significantly lower than currently available. By eliminating the profit markup and by prioritizing our customers' well-being over our own wealth, we believe we can make "getting by" much less expensive. Some of the services we plan to offer include:
- a zero-profit laundromat
- a zero-profit barber and beauty service
- free legal support (notary, tax preparation, and legal advisory services)
- zero-profit day care services
- a zero-profit bike sharing service
- job skills and self-improvement training
- zero-profit electrician, plumbing, and handyman services
In addition, we’re planning a very big project which we believe will give us the power to impact lives all over the country: We plan to manufacture modular tiny houses!
Our houses will be prefabricated single room units that can be assembled by one person with basic tools. They will include fold down beds, built in storage, as well as kitchen and bathroom facilities. One unit will sell for around $5,000, and we will make very flexible payment plans available. Additional units could be connected to the first, allowing a person to expand his or her home as their needs increase and their finances improve. There are several vacant manufacturing properties in our area that would be ideally suited for this. It would also create a significant number of jobs in the local area.
These are only some of our plans. It might take us a while to be able to get all of them up and running but, when we do, we guarantee the world will never be the same. The bottom line is, business doesn’t only have to be about making lots of money. We believe it’s possible to use the power of capitalism to help people and solve problems.
How can you help?
Simply put, we need money.
Mike’s Club is a business, and we earn from collecting membership fees and by selling donated merchandise. Although we’re doing pretty well, this last year has been rough. We have so many plans, and we want to help so many more people, but we’re just too small right now. We need money to grow.
Imagine if, instead of building a business designed to make a few people rich, we built one designed to help people survive! if, instead of building rockets and flying into space, we used the money we generate to solve life's really important problems.
One important point: we fully understand that there are many people out there who will not be able to afford to pay the $10 monthly membership fee, or even zero-profit prices for our services. We will not turn those people away. We will offer a starter membership to those who need it, providing essential services at no cost under a plan designed to help them become self-sustainable. We will work with those members to elevate them to dues-paying status, at a pace that works for them.
That’s the Mike’s Club mission! We promise, if you support us now, by helping us grow, we will always be there for you! We’ll make sure that no one goes hungry, no one lacks warm clothing, and no one is left behind.
Please donate to this campaign and help us change the world!
Michael Brown
Founder and President,
Mike’s Club LLC
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