The Kid from Toronto: Helping Men w/ Women :)

[Welcomeholm]

Happy new year to all and hope everyone is off to a blazing fast start to achieving their goals in 2014. Like most, upon completion of the book I purchased my INSIDERS subscription to the forum, so here is my intro…

University graduate
A couple years ago I graduated from a top ranked business school in Canada. I always wanted to have my own company as being an entrepreneur has been in my family for a couple generations. However, as I neared graduation I got caught up in the "get a stable job" dogma that plagues every university.

First slow-lane jobs
Upon graduation, I worked at various companies in the entertainment, media, and technology spaces as a marketer and consultant.

International travel
I eventually took a consulting gig overseas in Europe for 2 years which really opened my eyes to amazing travel and beautiful women

Online mens' brand
Today I am back on my home turf in Toronto where I am working on a men's brand that helps men get better with women by focusing on improving all aspects of their lives. Over the past 5 months I have been working on a social media strategy that has resulting in around 200,000+ followers that I plan to leverage when launching the website.

My skills that I can offer to other members
Business strategy, marketing expertise, social media customer acquisition, fashion, relationship/dating, fitness.

My goals
My goals are to grow my company into the leading men's brand on the internet and sell to a internet/magazine conglomerate or operate as a stand-alone entity that supports my lifestyle. Despite my experiences thus far, I still have a TON that I don't know and will need help with so anyone who wants to participate in some give-and-take just drop me a line.

Alternatively, if anyone is in Toronto or the surrounding area and wants to grab a beer hit me up!

Cheers!

Welcomeholm

 

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[Arandhawa23]

How will your brand be different from Tom Ford, Zara, Armani, etc. ?

 

[dknise]

Welcome to the forum!

Any chance we can pick you for some info on how you got the 200k+ followers? That's awesome.

 

[Welcomeholm]

Welcome to the forum!

Any chance we can pick you for some info on how you got the 200k+ followers? That's awesome.

Sure, PM me and we can chat on Skype or something. Happy to help.

 

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[Welcomeholm]

How will your brand be different from Tom Ford, Zara, Armani, etc. ?

Interesting that your first impression was that this brand is about clothes. It is firstly a lifestyle website, but I am actively evaluating the idea of launching a clothing line since I will have a massive audience of men who are looking for guidance. But the one thing I struggle with is how I will differentiate from the brands you mentioned. The first way that I can differentiate that comes to mind is (in order of importance) 1) packaging 2) presentation 3) brand… Certainly not price as I will never have the H&M's and Zara beat on that front.

Thoughts? Are you in the fashion world?

 

[Arandhawa23]

Interesting that your first impression was that this brand is about clothes. It is firstly a lifestyle website, but I am actively evaluating the idea of launching a clothing line since I will have a massive audience of men who are looking for guidance. But the one thing I struggle with is how I will differentiate from the brands you mentioned. The first way that I can differentiate that comes to mind is (in order of importance) 1) packaging 2) presentation 3) brand… Certainly not price as I will never have the H&M's and Zara beat on that front.

Thoughts? Are you in the fashion world?

I understand what you're aiming for. How will you be different from Hypebeast? Are you aiming in creating a blog that will re-blog many different styles from different designers and such? What is your monetizing technique? These are all questions that you must have solid answers for.

 

[Welcomeholm]

I understand what you're aiming for. How will you be different from Hypebeast? Are you aiming in creating a blog that will re-blog many different styles from different designers and such? What is your monetizing technique? These are all questions that you must have solid answers for.

All good questions, of which I have definitely factored into the creation of my brand. I will create a new thread detailing the launch of the website and ongoing development of the brand. There I will share my trials and tribulations

 

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[Stu_Hefner]

Any chance we can pick you for some info on how you got the 200k+ followers? That's awesome.

I'm guessing its Meme type pages that generate a lot of likes, shares ect. Maybe with pics and popular vines and videos.

Most pages share the same stuff.

Over the past 5 months I have been working on a social media strategy that has resulting in around 200,000+ followers that I plan to leverage when launching the website.

Hopefully you can monetize these.

Welcome and I'll be looking forward to your progress thread. Wish you all the best.

 

[Oven]

Nice to see another guy from Toronto on here. I'm also curious on how you got those 200,000 followers. Any paid advertising? I'm looking forward to your progress thread. Good luck.

 

[TheSilverSpoon]

Interesting that your first impression was that this brand is about clothes. It is firstly a lifestyle website, but I am actively evaluating the idea of launching a clothing line since I will have a massive audience of men who are looking for guidance. But the one thing I struggle with is how I will differentiate from the brands you mentioned. The first way that I can differentiate that comes to mind is (in order of importance) 1) packaging 2) presentation 3) brand… Certainly not price as I will never have the H&M's and Zara beat on that front.

Thoughts? Are you in the fashion world?

If you have a large following of guys looking for lifestyle advice you have some very common and very strong underlying pain points for your demographic. It seems to me the right way to play that card is to push and push and push on their pain points with some very targeted advertising. Then provide them the solution - custom tailored to their problem - in the form of your clothes / perfume / watch / shoes / high end alcohol brand. Skip the retail outlets, mostly negating your packaging needs, and run your operation entirely online. Keep your margins high, your costs low, and reinvest into your marketing and support. Be THE go-to solution for their problem and build up a following of fanatically brand loyal customers.

Solve the shit out of one small targeted group's need instead of many peoples "kinda important" needs.

 

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[Brander]

How will your brand be different from Tom Ford, Zara, Armani, etc. ?

This piece of old wisdom happens to be valid - First immitate, then innovate.

 

[InLikeFlint]

Welcome to the forum

I like your idea and I think there is definitely a need here to solve…the issue is the market is saturated with those 'attempting' to solve the need, with very few actually providing a solution.

Off the top of my head here are a few I can think of, take a look at them and aim to do something similar, but correct their mistakes:

Cologne/Perfume: Commodity Goods
Dress wear: Indochino, Frank & Oak, 7 Regent Lane, Arden Reed, Vineyard Vines, Zara, Uniqlo

I'm very into fashion and the fashion industry, if you're interested in the tips from a young businessman on the types of clothes/price range you should include, I would definitely lend my opinion.