Don Esbjornson started in 1993 with no customers, no suppliers, and a partner's shell company that had been sitting dormant since 1984. Thirty-three years later, Packaging HERO has four distribution centers, 25,000 SKUs, and a website that cost a quarter of a million dollars to build.

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Kyler Nixon sits down with Don Esbjornson, President of Packaging HERO, to discuss what distribution looked like before the internet, why custom packaging is their real answer to Uline, and what makes a customer stick so much that they never want to leave.

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Don also shares a live example from the week before recording - a $4,700 online order that he spotted, investigated, and turned into a potential national franchise account. It's the kind of story that only comes from three decades of watching orders closely.

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Guest Bio

Don Esbjornson is the President and owner of Packaging HERO, a Chicago-based packaging materials and custom packaging company, which he has led since 1993. He spent five years at Sealed Air before leaving to start his own distribution venture with one of his distributors. After buying out his partner, he has run the business solo ever since. Today, Packaging HERO operates four distribution centers across Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Dallas.

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What We Cover

1. Walking the beat in 1993: No internet, no email, just a binder of price pages and knocking on every door on both sides of the street. Don breaks down what belly-to-belly sales actually looked like when he started out.
2. Profitable in year one: Despite starting from scratch with a borrowed warehouse, borrowed truck, and borrowed staff, Conpac Group turned a profit in its first year - enough that Don bought out his partner in three and a half years.
3. Three website eras: From a BoxPartners white-label site in 2010 to a self-hosted bad build, to the $250,000 custom platform launched in 2020 that finally made digital marketing possible.
4. Why 93% of their revenue isn't commodity stock: Don explains how custom corrugated makes up over 70% of what they do - and why that's the real differentiator from Uline, not price or speed.
5. The customer survey that revealed their true edge: When they surveyed customers directly and asked why they buy from Packaging HERO, the answer that kept coming back wasn't product or price. It was: your people.
6. The $4,700 order and what Don did next: A custom tray order from a California franchise caught Don's eye. Two locations out of 20 were being bought. He's now working to bring the whole chain on board - with printed trays, truckload quantities, and a lower per-unit cost than what they started with.
7. Your existing customers are your best prospects: Don reflects on a salesperson who cold-called four days a...

Search engines are changing. The days of simply stuffing keywords and chasing domain authority are fading. Now, the focus is on Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). The goal isn't just to get a click: it is to provide the direct answer inside tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google’s AI overviews.

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Kyler Nixon sits down with Wendy Sponaugle, Vice President of Marketing at SupplyOne, to break down this massive shift in digital discovery. Wendy explains why distributors must move from generic product descriptions to conversational content that solves specific problems.

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They discuss why "zero-click" searches are becoming the norm and how to structure your website to survive the change. You will learn why context now beats keywords and how to find the exact questions your customers are asking—sometimes by looking in unexpected places like Reddit or even their browser history.

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Guest Bio

Wendy Sponaugle is the Vice President of Marketing at SupplyOne, Inc., the largest independent supplier of corrugated and value-added packaging products in the U.S. With over 15 years of experience in manufacturing, distribution, and logistics, Wendy specializes in data-driven demand generation and transforming complex operational capabilities into clear market narratives. She focuses on aligning product positioning with the "Voice of the Customer" to drive measurable revenue growth.

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What We Cover

1. Defining AEO: The critical difference between traditional Search Engine Optimization and the new world of Answer Engine Optimization.
2. The Conversational Shift: Why content must sound human to rank in AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude.
3. Three Key Content Pillars: Wendy’s strategy relies on FAQs, Case Studies, and specific Blogs to capture traffic.
4. Context Over Keywords: Why describing the job site or the problem is now more effective than listing product specs.
5. Mining for Questions: How to use sales team feedback and platforms like Reddit to identify what customers actually need.
6. The Search History Strategy: Kyler shares a bold tactic for finding out exactly how procurement professionals search for products.
7. Value-Add Services: How moving beyond "lowest price" and offering expert consultation creates sticky customer relationships.

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Resources Mentioned

1. SupplyOne, Inc.
2. ChatGPT

Most business leaders try to keep their personal beliefs separate from their professional lives. Kyler Nixon sits down with Craig Penland to discuss what happens when you do the exact opposite. Craig opens up about the terrifying winter of 2009, when he dropped to his knees in a quiet office to seek direction, only to receive a call that saved the business days later.

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You will hear how Craig navigates the tension of being a "faith-based business" without forcing it on his team. He explains why he refused to remove religious messages from his invoices, even when a sales rep warned it would cost him business. Kyler and Craig also discuss the "NASCAR smoke" visualization that changed how Eurolink handled the uncertainty of 2020: instead of slowing down, they accelerated. This is a candid look at building a company that prioritizes people over profits and service over volume.

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Guest Bio

Craig Penland is the Founder, President, and CEO of Eurolink Fastener Supply Service. Based in Greer, South Carolina, Craig launched the company in 2000 to solve a specific problem in the industrial market: sourcing hard-to-find metric fasteners. Under his leadership, Eurolink has become a premier "master distributor" known for stocking C-class items that larger competitors ignore. Craig is also an active member of C12 and partners with nonprofits, including JUMPSTART SC, to provide employment opportunities.

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What We Cover

1. The specific prayer in 2009 that preceded a company-saving order from a lost customer.
2. How Craig handled a sales rep who wanted him to hide his faith to win more business.
3. Why does Eurolink pay for a chaplain to visit the office every two weeks?
4. The "NASCAR smoke" analogy: How to lead when you cannot see what is in front of you.
5. Navigating the hiring process as a faith-led company without being exclusionary.
6. Why does Eurolink focus on "No Quote" and "No Stock" items rather than competing on volume?
7. Separating your personal identity from the financial success of your business.

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Resources Mentioned

1. Eurolink Fastener Supply Service
2. C12 Business Forums
3. JUMPSTART SC