ChapoJR
Regular Contributor
INTRODUCTION
I've lurked here on these forums for a while. Probably the most value I've got is from these Progress Threads.
The majority don't have much substance. Maybe the odd good idea, and a seemingly determined person starting on a journey which they quickly desert and give up on, never to be heard from here again.
There are a few, however, that are an absolute abundance of valuable information and keys to success. I've read a lot of books, I've downloaded courses and educational material on business, I've spoken with the CEO's of some of the world's biggest players within my field of business, however none of that compares to the value I've taken from some of the progress threads available for FREE on this forum.
I believe we learn best from following other people's actions. It's one thing looking up books & textbooks full of technical step guidelines etc, however there's very little which weighs up to actually following someone's footsteps as they outline the steps they took to achieve a specific goal. The 'if they can do that, I can do it too' factor is a big, big deal in instilling
the self-belief necessary to begin on a journey.
So, I start this progress thread as a method of doing just that; outlining my journey to the top.
My approach to this thread is simply to further enhance my focus on my goal. I create it for mostly personal reason. Something for myself to look back on and follow along with, creating a clear source of self-assessment for myself. Tunnel-vision on the goal at hand.
I will treat this almost like a diary. I will post here as often as I can, pretty much in a flow-of-consciousness type way. I don't intend to post well-thought-out lessons or guidelines, but rather just share as much of my journey as I possibly can. When I have something on my mind which I find valuable, whether something I've done or something I've stumbled upon, I will post it.
The progress threads I have followed here on this forum which have been the most valuable to me have been in that format, and it is truly what I believe to be the best layout for this style of information.
WHO AM I?
Long-story short, this progress thread is based upon my journey towards creating a fashion brand.
I am 23 years of age, currently living in the UK. I have been on my journey of entrepreneurship since 19 with little snippets of success along the way, but mostly failures.
I have started one fashion brand previously, in addition to many other shorter-lived projects, which began drop-shipping products from AliExpress. The brand was fairly popular and grossed over £90,000 from the date I launched at 21 until now. However I'm sure as you all know the margins for dropshipping from Ali are fairly slim. Also I've tried and tested that many different things within that business I would say it's probably in the negative by this stage.
If anyone has ever tried this within the fashion industry, especially men's clothing which was the area I have done it within, they will know that it is a very difficult thing to pull off. The majority of followers of men's clothing have a pretty good knowledge of what's going on within that space. When they see an ad for your product, you are usually inundated with people commenting 'AliExpress fakes' etc, even if the photos are your own. It isn't a sustainable business model, which brings me on to my next venture.
In the midst of this brand, about a year in I realised it was not sustainable, both due to the lack of authenticity the brand was capable of producing, and also the slim profit margins. I knew I had to try something else, so I did.
I created a men's watch company. I spent probably 6 months developing the product, developing content, getting influencer's onto a referral scheme, etc. The total amount I invested into it was around £15,000. I had 300 pcs delivered to me, launch was around Sept of 2016, and to this day I've sold 40 watches.
That venture was probably the biggest learning experience I could have possibly had. I now know the mistakes I made and that is invaluable to me. Long story short, the product was based off of another company's already existent design with only slight changes, but still offered at exactly the same price. I foolishly had the idea in my head that people liked that style so I could sell shitloads of them by simply branding my content in a slightly different way - in this industry of branded consumer goods such as fashion items, it is imperative that you enter the market with a DRASTICALLY different & original product. These industries are a goldmine and are also something almost everyone wants to do (who doesn't want to tell girls they run a clothing company or a watch company - it's an instant cool factor!), so they are hugely over-saturated. Unless your brand is offering something the consumer hasn't seen yet, whether it is from a drastically cheaper pricepoint, better or more original product design, product performance etc, then you will struggle to establish a brand.
Many people think they have that new product which will turn heads instantly, but that's never the case. It takes something truly special to break into an industry which consumer desire is controlled mostly by the visual appearance of products.
After the watch company tanked, I went back to selling clothes. During the time of me investing everything into developing the watch brand, I was still earning a steady amount of incoming orders to pass on to my dropshipping suppliers per day. In my head, I figured I should just stick with what works, right?
So I decided to try something different. I knew I needed larger profit margins so instead of dropshipping I instead made contacts with the manufacturers/wholesalers my AliExpress suppliers were getting their stuff from. I figured if I can get it for cheaper from there and order in bulk, I'd be able to make more profit on my items and the business would then be a success. Right?
Wrong.
The remodelling of the company logistics system took well over 6 months to complete. I had to test out Chinese warehouse & handling companies to store & ship all the inventory I had purchased from various suppliers to me, and go back & forth for various samples etc. During this time I had put the company on hold due to getting sick of the dropshipping game; suppliers taking 5 days to even dispatch items, then having them delayed at customs, customer's having them arrive with fake brand labels on them, etc.
By the time we re-launched the buzz had very much died down and I had to start over. Quickly did I realise that despite the probably only 5-10% increase in profit margins, it still wasn't really worth it. I wasn't enjoying selling these products and the logistics didn't really make much sense. Running a brand/store like this has a limit to how far you can take it. Running a dropshipping business is great as a beginner to learn the basics of business with very little input or risk needed upon entry, but it has an extremely low chance of ever becoming something sustainable.
Therein lay my problem.
I had been playing with the concept of a new brand for quite a while. I had a great idea on how to swoop in and create an almost entirely new sub-niche within the men's fashion industry for one product genre that pretty much nobody was/is occupying. It is often extremely difficult to let go of a company you have worked so hard on, a company you may have told friends & family about, they may ask you 'Hey ___, how's the business?' - it's a difficult thing to take a step back and evaluate whether what you are actually doing is making progress or if it is stagnant. In my case, this business, my first and most successful venture so far, was/is indeed stagnant. I have taken it as far as I can, and at this point it is much easier and makes more sense to start over from scratch than try and completely shift a brand into something it isn't.
The good news is, due to my endeavours within this market, I know this industry like the back of my hand. I know where & how to promote products, how to position a brand, I know pretty much every single consultancy agency, influencer, photographer, stylist & designer who is making moves and who I need to get on board to help me bring the vision I have for the brand to life.
This is a new chapter within my journey and one in which I am very much looking forward to with confidence.
It is extremely difficult to continue believing in yourself once you have failed so many times. I have worked on-and-off during my entrepreneurial career at various odd-jobs at factories and such, simply to keep supporting myself and having more money to invest in my endeavours. It is a constant psychological battle to maintain the right frame of mind and remain focussed on my goals when surrounded by a workplace of people working 12-hour shifts day in day out.
When I was 18 I had the chance to go to a top University studying Computer Science, and 2 weeks before starting I withdrew my place and instead chose to pursue my true passion of becoming an entrepreneur. I've lost the girl of my dreams due to focussing too much on my business & goals and not enough on her.
It is true what they say, it's a long and lonely road to success.
I have never doubted that I will eventually get to my goal, however I never foreseen the amount of pain and suffering I would have to go through along the way. It's easy to watch young entrepreneurs who make it at their first try at age 21 and see them living lavishly driving Lamborghini's etc., then thinking that you can do that too - they make it look easy and fun - some of them even start YouTube channels & vlogs to persuade you how easy it is. So you start down this road and 1 business goes by, 2 businesses go by, 3 businesses go by, and still no success. At several points along this road it would have been easy for me to give up and go back to school and get a job doing something I'd hate for the rest of my days here on earth. I'd probably get a pretty decent job, too, earning £50k+, marry a nice girl and have some kids, travel around a bit, live life a little. But that's never really crossed my mind. To do this, you have to be a little bit insane. If I wasn't, I'd have gave up after my first business failed and gone back to school, claiming it simply wasn't for me and choosing the safer, 'guaranteed' option as a better fit.
For some people that makes sense, sure. Not everyone is cut out for this, and I'm not saying they should be. Sometimes I am envious of those who are able to settle for less, those who are out enjoying their early twenties travelling and going out with friends etc., whereas I'm stuck inside at 2am on a Saturday night going back & forth on Whatsapp with manufacturers in China. But then I come back to my senses and realise there's nothing I love more than those 2AM message binges with factories regarding production. There's nothing I love more than browsing Instagram for hours upon hours, searching for A-List players to work with, what trends are catching on, which brands are popping. I guess that's what keeps me going, and the main reason I'll make it.
With this brand, more than the other's, I feel the timing is perfect.
I've paid my dues in the form of so many failures & setbacks. I've learnt so much from those failures and I've worked so hard to get to the point I'm at now. I feel like now more than ever my understanding for what it will take to make this a successful venture is clearer than ever - in previous ventures I was mostly going in blindly with no clear execution plan or end-goal in mind. I'm leaving no stone unturned. No second will be wasted.
THREAD LAYOUT
My ranting here was mostly to provide some background. I want to refer people to this thread when I'm eventually in a position in which people are coming to me for inspiration and answers as they begin their own endeavours from someone who has 'made it' as the saying goes. As Gary Vaynerchuk always says, he wishes he had documented his journey in his early days of entrepreneurship before his YouTube channel took off. This is my 'early days journey'. It's much easier to write it now as I go along, than to refer back to it from memory further along the line.
I am treating this Progress Thread from the mentality that every single thing I am writing is being directed towards that 17 year old kid reading this in 2-3 years time, still in high-school and searching for answers and wisdom. I by no means have all the answers, but I do want to share my journey with him/her, in the hope that it can be a reference point that anything is possible with persistence and patience. I have rambled so much by this point that said 17 year old will have probably lost interest by this stage, however I'll keep going anyways in the hope that they can summon the attention span to listen to me.
Mostly within this thread I will be breaking it down into 2 parts, business development and personal development.
I feel as much as it is important to hustle on my business venture, it's just as important to improve myself. When you are closely tied to a company like you are in the fashion world, your business almost becomes an extension of yourself. If your energy and vibe is off as a person, you can bet your energy and vibe as a business will be off too. Everything is connected. Not only that, but your own personal mindset will limit how far your company can grow, or if it will even grow at all. I feel this was an important mistake I made with my watch venture which tanked. I had the products in production, which would take 70 days, and during that time I simply did nothing. I kept telling myself that all I have to do is wait, and once the products arrive, they'll be an instant hit. I spent my spare time watching TV, playing video games and other bullshit, simply because I was naive enough to believe that the product would do all the work itself once it arrived. Not a mistake I will make again. There is never a second to waste.
I have labelled this thread 'Beyond Simple Logistics', because I haven't really seen a progress thread here on building an actual brand before. Most seem to be about importing products and sending them to Amazon, dropshipping, or other similar topics, which are all cool of course, but I feel this thread will go quite a bit beyond that, stepping into brand positioning, product design, working with influencers, social media, working with agencies & consultants, etc.
I may come back to this at some point and tidy all of this up as it mostly just complete and utter rambles at the moment, which may put most people off. However I'm not really aiming for mass-viewership within the forum here. Like I said this is a diary for myself to keep myself in check, and create a reference for the future.
I've lurked here on these forums for a while. Probably the most value I've got is from these Progress Threads.
The majority don't have much substance. Maybe the odd good idea, and a seemingly determined person starting on a journey which they quickly desert and give up on, never to be heard from here again.
There are a few, however, that are an absolute abundance of valuable information and keys to success. I've read a lot of books, I've downloaded courses and educational material on business, I've spoken with the CEO's of some of the world's biggest players within my field of business, however none of that compares to the value I've taken from some of the progress threads available for FREE on this forum.
I believe we learn best from following other people's actions. It's one thing looking up books & textbooks full of technical step guidelines etc, however there's very little which weighs up to actually following someone's footsteps as they outline the steps they took to achieve a specific goal. The 'if they can do that, I can do it too' factor is a big, big deal in instilling
the self-belief necessary to begin on a journey.
So, I start this progress thread as a method of doing just that; outlining my journey to the top.
My approach to this thread is simply to further enhance my focus on my goal. I create it for mostly personal reason. Something for myself to look back on and follow along with, creating a clear source of self-assessment for myself. Tunnel-vision on the goal at hand.
I will treat this almost like a diary. I will post here as often as I can, pretty much in a flow-of-consciousness type way. I don't intend to post well-thought-out lessons or guidelines, but rather just share as much of my journey as I possibly can. When I have something on my mind which I find valuable, whether something I've done or something I've stumbled upon, I will post it.
The progress threads I have followed here on this forum which have been the most valuable to me have been in that format, and it is truly what I believe to be the best layout for this style of information.
WHO AM I?
Long-story short, this progress thread is based upon my journey towards creating a fashion brand.
I am 23 years of age, currently living in the UK. I have been on my journey of entrepreneurship since 19 with little snippets of success along the way, but mostly failures.
I have started one fashion brand previously, in addition to many other shorter-lived projects, which began drop-shipping products from AliExpress. The brand was fairly popular and grossed over £90,000 from the date I launched at 21 until now. However I'm sure as you all know the margins for dropshipping from Ali are fairly slim. Also I've tried and tested that many different things within that business I would say it's probably in the negative by this stage.
If anyone has ever tried this within the fashion industry, especially men's clothing which was the area I have done it within, they will know that it is a very difficult thing to pull off. The majority of followers of men's clothing have a pretty good knowledge of what's going on within that space. When they see an ad for your product, you are usually inundated with people commenting 'AliExpress fakes' etc, even if the photos are your own. It isn't a sustainable business model, which brings me on to my next venture.
In the midst of this brand, about a year in I realised it was not sustainable, both due to the lack of authenticity the brand was capable of producing, and also the slim profit margins. I knew I had to try something else, so I did.
I created a men's watch company. I spent probably 6 months developing the product, developing content, getting influencer's onto a referral scheme, etc. The total amount I invested into it was around £15,000. I had 300 pcs delivered to me, launch was around Sept of 2016, and to this day I've sold 40 watches.
That venture was probably the biggest learning experience I could have possibly had. I now know the mistakes I made and that is invaluable to me. Long story short, the product was based off of another company's already existent design with only slight changes, but still offered at exactly the same price. I foolishly had the idea in my head that people liked that style so I could sell shitloads of them by simply branding my content in a slightly different way - in this industry of branded consumer goods such as fashion items, it is imperative that you enter the market with a DRASTICALLY different & original product. These industries are a goldmine and are also something almost everyone wants to do (who doesn't want to tell girls they run a clothing company or a watch company - it's an instant cool factor!), so they are hugely over-saturated. Unless your brand is offering something the consumer hasn't seen yet, whether it is from a drastically cheaper pricepoint, better or more original product design, product performance etc, then you will struggle to establish a brand.
Many people think they have that new product which will turn heads instantly, but that's never the case. It takes something truly special to break into an industry which consumer desire is controlled mostly by the visual appearance of products.
After the watch company tanked, I went back to selling clothes. During the time of me investing everything into developing the watch brand, I was still earning a steady amount of incoming orders to pass on to my dropshipping suppliers per day. In my head, I figured I should just stick with what works, right?
So I decided to try something different. I knew I needed larger profit margins so instead of dropshipping I instead made contacts with the manufacturers/wholesalers my AliExpress suppliers were getting their stuff from. I figured if I can get it for cheaper from there and order in bulk, I'd be able to make more profit on my items and the business would then be a success. Right?
Wrong.
The remodelling of the company logistics system took well over 6 months to complete. I had to test out Chinese warehouse & handling companies to store & ship all the inventory I had purchased from various suppliers to me, and go back & forth for various samples etc. During this time I had put the company on hold due to getting sick of the dropshipping game; suppliers taking 5 days to even dispatch items, then having them delayed at customs, customer's having them arrive with fake brand labels on them, etc.
By the time we re-launched the buzz had very much died down and I had to start over. Quickly did I realise that despite the probably only 5-10% increase in profit margins, it still wasn't really worth it. I wasn't enjoying selling these products and the logistics didn't really make much sense. Running a brand/store like this has a limit to how far you can take it. Running a dropshipping business is great as a beginner to learn the basics of business with very little input or risk needed upon entry, but it has an extremely low chance of ever becoming something sustainable.
Therein lay my problem.
I had been playing with the concept of a new brand for quite a while. I had a great idea on how to swoop in and create an almost entirely new sub-niche within the men's fashion industry for one product genre that pretty much nobody was/is occupying. It is often extremely difficult to let go of a company you have worked so hard on, a company you may have told friends & family about, they may ask you 'Hey ___, how's the business?' - it's a difficult thing to take a step back and evaluate whether what you are actually doing is making progress or if it is stagnant. In my case, this business, my first and most successful venture so far, was/is indeed stagnant. I have taken it as far as I can, and at this point it is much easier and makes more sense to start over from scratch than try and completely shift a brand into something it isn't.
The good news is, due to my endeavours within this market, I know this industry like the back of my hand. I know where & how to promote products, how to position a brand, I know pretty much every single consultancy agency, influencer, photographer, stylist & designer who is making moves and who I need to get on board to help me bring the vision I have for the brand to life.
This is a new chapter within my journey and one in which I am very much looking forward to with confidence.
It is extremely difficult to continue believing in yourself once you have failed so many times. I have worked on-and-off during my entrepreneurial career at various odd-jobs at factories and such, simply to keep supporting myself and having more money to invest in my endeavours. It is a constant psychological battle to maintain the right frame of mind and remain focussed on my goals when surrounded by a workplace of people working 12-hour shifts day in day out.
When I was 18 I had the chance to go to a top University studying Computer Science, and 2 weeks before starting I withdrew my place and instead chose to pursue my true passion of becoming an entrepreneur. I've lost the girl of my dreams due to focussing too much on my business & goals and not enough on her.
It is true what they say, it's a long and lonely road to success.
I have never doubted that I will eventually get to my goal, however I never foreseen the amount of pain and suffering I would have to go through along the way. It's easy to watch young entrepreneurs who make it at their first try at age 21 and see them living lavishly driving Lamborghini's etc., then thinking that you can do that too - they make it look easy and fun - some of them even start YouTube channels & vlogs to persuade you how easy it is. So you start down this road and 1 business goes by, 2 businesses go by, 3 businesses go by, and still no success. At several points along this road it would have been easy for me to give up and go back to school and get a job doing something I'd hate for the rest of my days here on earth. I'd probably get a pretty decent job, too, earning £50k+, marry a nice girl and have some kids, travel around a bit, live life a little. But that's never really crossed my mind. To do this, you have to be a little bit insane. If I wasn't, I'd have gave up after my first business failed and gone back to school, claiming it simply wasn't for me and choosing the safer, 'guaranteed' option as a better fit.
For some people that makes sense, sure. Not everyone is cut out for this, and I'm not saying they should be. Sometimes I am envious of those who are able to settle for less, those who are out enjoying their early twenties travelling and going out with friends etc., whereas I'm stuck inside at 2am on a Saturday night going back & forth on Whatsapp with manufacturers in China. But then I come back to my senses and realise there's nothing I love more than those 2AM message binges with factories regarding production. There's nothing I love more than browsing Instagram for hours upon hours, searching for A-List players to work with, what trends are catching on, which brands are popping. I guess that's what keeps me going, and the main reason I'll make it.
With this brand, more than the other's, I feel the timing is perfect.
I've paid my dues in the form of so many failures & setbacks. I've learnt so much from those failures and I've worked so hard to get to the point I'm at now. I feel like now more than ever my understanding for what it will take to make this a successful venture is clearer than ever - in previous ventures I was mostly going in blindly with no clear execution plan or end-goal in mind. I'm leaving no stone unturned. No second will be wasted.
THREAD LAYOUT
My ranting here was mostly to provide some background. I want to refer people to this thread when I'm eventually in a position in which people are coming to me for inspiration and answers as they begin their own endeavours from someone who has 'made it' as the saying goes. As Gary Vaynerchuk always says, he wishes he had documented his journey in his early days of entrepreneurship before his YouTube channel took off. This is my 'early days journey'. It's much easier to write it now as I go along, than to refer back to it from memory further along the line.
I am treating this Progress Thread from the mentality that every single thing I am writing is being directed towards that 17 year old kid reading this in 2-3 years time, still in high-school and searching for answers and wisdom. I by no means have all the answers, but I do want to share my journey with him/her, in the hope that it can be a reference point that anything is possible with persistence and patience. I have rambled so much by this point that said 17 year old will have probably lost interest by this stage, however I'll keep going anyways in the hope that they can summon the attention span to listen to me.
Mostly within this thread I will be breaking it down into 2 parts, business development and personal development.
I feel as much as it is important to hustle on my business venture, it's just as important to improve myself. When you are closely tied to a company like you are in the fashion world, your business almost becomes an extension of yourself. If your energy and vibe is off as a person, you can bet your energy and vibe as a business will be off too. Everything is connected. Not only that, but your own personal mindset will limit how far your company can grow, or if it will even grow at all. I feel this was an important mistake I made with my watch venture which tanked. I had the products in production, which would take 70 days, and during that time I simply did nothing. I kept telling myself that all I have to do is wait, and once the products arrive, they'll be an instant hit. I spent my spare time watching TV, playing video games and other bullshit, simply because I was naive enough to believe that the product would do all the work itself once it arrived. Not a mistake I will make again. There is never a second to waste.
I have labelled this thread 'Beyond Simple Logistics', because I haven't really seen a progress thread here on building an actual brand before. Most seem to be about importing products and sending them to Amazon, dropshipping, or other similar topics, which are all cool of course, but I feel this thread will go quite a bit beyond that, stepping into brand positioning, product design, working with influencers, social media, working with agencies & consultants, etc.
I may come back to this at some point and tidy all of this up as it mostly just complete and utter rambles at the moment, which may put most people off. However I'm not really aiming for mass-viewership within the forum here. Like I said this is a diary for myself to keep myself in check, and create a reference for the future.
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