I sit down with business owner Randy Wee of Wee's Tees to talk about his entrepreneurial journey.
https://www.weestees.com/
PHR 185 Pharmacology at DMACC now has a 2nd section as we quickly filled the first section. It's completely online, a 10-week course, and you can find more information here:
https://www.dmacc.edu/programs/pdp/pre-pharmacy/Pages/online-pharmacology-class.aspx
Trail Point is opening a number of new sessions for summer, check them out here:
http://www.mytrailpoint.com/Pages/programs.aspx
Full Transcript:
Welcome to the Ankeny Podcast I'm gonna be talking to Randy Wee of Wees Tees in
just a minute, but before that I just want to let you know that we opened up a
second pharmacology section PHR 185 Pharmacology for a 10-week summer class, so if you know someone that's pre-nursing, pre-med, or pre-pharmacy or is going to PA school and is really concerned about pharmacology class that's usually who we get in the class so we've opened up another section, classes start in just a week and a half here at DMACC but that class is fully online and ten weeks long. Trail Point has just sent out their new email so I know they have a number of summer programs that are just opening up they changed the way they do swim Academy though so just to let you know they change from seven weeks sessions to two week sessions Monday through Friday or Monday Friday and then Monday Thursday same time every day but you can go to their website to check the swim Academy offerings and then also all the other programs they have over summer they have nanny passes available so if your nanny needs to take the kiddos down to trail point and it's relatively inexpensive I think it was like 60 bucks and then as far as the summer basketball league I think they're still registration closes May 20th so you just register either online or at the membership desk.
They are open on Memorial Day 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and then the Kids Zone is open 8:00 a.m. at 12 p.m. in the competition pool 5:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. there will be a full closure notice or they're closing the leisure pulled the family pool in the back from Saturday, May 19th to Sunday
June 3rd for maintenance but I think the competitive pool still be open so if you want to do and things like that that's still a possibility and then they posted their summer hours all right well I don't want to belabor that but I just want to let you know about those updates with trail point and then again pharmacology class and then if you want to take chemistry with me I'm also
teaching two sections in Ankeny and fall one section in Newton and I also teach pharmacology and fall so just get in touch with me at [email protected] and now let's get started with the show.
Okay, well welcome to the Ankeny Podcast I am here on South Ankeny Boulevard with the owner of Wees Tees Randy Wee and I just want to say first welcome to the Ankeny Podcast. Well, thank you very much. I'm excited to be a part of this and I'm looking forward to being involved. So, let's start with your entrepreneurial journey everyone's entrepreneurial journey is a little bit
different most people start with maybe a job and then they end up working for themselves tell me a little bit about your transition um mine was kind of accidental actually I used to coach college baseball and in-between jobs at UNI and Northern Illinois I took a job selling screen printing and athletic clothing for a company called Kraft Cochrane and then I left that continue college coaching and then after I left education in 2008 I worked for a non-profit and work from home and I had a lot of downtime a lot of time to hate to figure out what I was gonna do so my
boss would always tell me to take walks but instead I wanted to figure out a way to make money. Okay, so I started selling athletic clothing and team clothing out of out of my house and going around visiting people and did that for a couple years and just took off okay well what was your mission at the outset you know in terms of so did you just want to work focus on high school teams college teams how did you decide what you're gonna do local how did you kind of decide what your niche was initially my niche was just dealing with with youth teams okay and then some of my friends that coach high school baseball ideal some of their stuff but then it really took off when I did the season finale shirt for the University of Northern Iowa baseball they dropped baseball. I did their last ever shirt for their program and business kind of took off and you know and then I had a friend it kept saying I went on a screen printing shop Karl Chambers my business partner he kept saying you bug me for two years okay let's see what we can do okay okay I'm from the East Coast so I'm used to going down to Ocean City and every year they would obviously have you know spring break or you know this year this summer it would be twenty well back then it would be like 1984 1985 1986 so what other I guess in terms of businesses did you have any business experience before you started Wees Tees because the failure rate on businesses is like you know after a year it's like one survives out of ten and then five years later another one ten percent of those survive how did you do so well so quickly well I think there are several factors one it's just dumb luck I had no business experience I had never taken a business class okay I was in education I so I think luck was one two there was a demand for it there's a huge demand for a custom clothing in a lot of different areas in the metro and then I think three I hired really good people and you know I like to say we scared more business away our first couple years by not knowing how to do things oh and so the last four years four and a half years has been awesome for us with the right staff with the right process with good customer service.
But I'm
serious I feel very lucky too
we borrowed credit cards I stole from my
personal savings and we started a
business and it was very very lucky okay
okay well everyone once you become a
business owner in town people think it
was all pretty easy
[Laughter]
oh it all worked out now that your your
great success you know I see you're
building the golf course in the back
yeah
but what what was the biggest challenge
that you had cuz most entrepreneurs if
they can survive that big challenge
there's usually one thing or one day or
one week or one month that just was wow
that was just that was really rough and
we made it you know the biggest
challenge honestly was not knowing what
I need to know okay so many times I
would not know what to do and tell the
situation arose go I never thought that
situation ever gonna arise you can't
write a business plan about what you
don't know yes and I wrote them things
and we've plans of things but you know
how to handle different situations and
we made lots of mistakes we booked
equipment in and inside on a bunch of
equipment for a year we you know we've
made some bad decisions but I've got a
you know I survived because of our staff
because of our customers and all because
I've I have a really intelligent and
kind business partner Karl Chambers who
helps me figure things out on a regular
basis okay well most of the great
companies do have business partners and
I don't want to put you into tech but
you know Microsoft there was really two
or three of them you know Apple same
thing there's two of them and and what
is your role the when partners come
together usually one has one as I don't
say more outgoing but one tends to talk
with the public one tends to like to be
more behind-the-scenes where are you and
what is your favorite role as part of a
business well I coral is a silent
partner he comes and we meet once or
twice a week doesn't really have
anything to do with the business except
provide advice and give suggestions and
be a sounding board and then I run the
day-to-day operations and do a lot of
the sales so I'm the one that's actively
involved okay and then how many
employees do you have
we fluctuate between six and eight okay
depending on the season okay and then in
terms of you know what products you
offer its customer but for example I I
was doing the markets market relay
actually we're doing market to market
relay in 48 hours we're gonna be getting
up at four o'clock went up to Jefferson
coming down 75 miles and it's our third
year doing it but my one of the guys
said oh I want to do the t-shirts I want
to do t-shirts then three weeks before I
was like so to do the t-shirts as I can
I didn't call me back so I said all
right well now I know a guy hey you need
to you need to call him you know we've
got three weeks till it starts tell me a
little bit about how would someone refer
you like when you say okay I do custom
team equipment that's a huge range like
for every sport for high school sports
where would you even start is there a
catalog we have a lot of different
suppliers we have hundreds and hundreds
of suppliers so it's really tough to get
everything in front of everybody we're
trying to work on our website now to do
that but it's our main area is custom
clothing whether it's it's clothing you
wear on your body or on your head
whether it's a team uniform for a
business or for a team for a high school
or college or youth team for sports and
then equipment that goes around around
that area and we do decoration in
towards a screen print embroidery and
then the advertising products the
promotional products that go with that
so we was a singing poster banner a
poster pens koozies you know window
clings you know the chargers for your
phones you can travel and I mean
anything you could put a logo on week
and some things but most things we do
in-house but a lot of things we also do
outside the shop from people that
actually produce those promotional
products but all our decorations grand
printing embroidery heat set is done
in-house but usually the person ordering
these things is not being paid usually
they're a volunteer or maybe they're a
parent maybe they're a coach maybe
they're with a school how what's the
process for someone that comes in with
maybe hey my we need uniforms for the
whole team and then how do you take care
of them during a whole season because my
wife is just commenting on the NBA
season being like 15 months long or
something like that where it's just on
and on and on how do you work with
somebody through the season and then
into the next season typically at the
high school season it's usually six
months ahead when they're doing things
for the teams for the booster clubs it's
usually a month to two months ahead and
then for the elementary schools it's
usually a month ahead for their further
you know their spirit water for their
school but typically people call up
start up with a phone call or an email
and kind of give us an idea what they
want or they stop in and we try to
explain to them that the process is
they need to have an art idea they need
to have a type of clothing idea and once
we have what an idea whether right
before we can put that down and approve
for them and send them out approvals for
the art health sighs them for their
uniform or their clothing for their
whether it's a t-shirt or a baseball or
softball uniform and and then decorate
the garment in depending on what you do
the process can be a week two up to six
to eight weeks you know because there's
four heat setting something it's a lot
quicker then it is if we're getting a
sublimated uniform which can be okay now
you're talking you're talking jargon
yeah
let's start with the difference what's
he'd say well heat set is a vinyl
product you put on your on your clothing
it's usually people think of their name
or numbers is okay but you can also do a
custom decoration find all my girlfriend
in high school I earn my Jersey and I
lost a letter then you have screen
printing which is an ink that you you
press on with the screen printing
machine it's it's squeegee done and you
can do from one color up to depending on
what shop you're at up to 12 or 15
colors and that is typically what people
think of when they think of custom
shirts
there's also transfers that look like
screen printing but they're also iron-on
but they look more like a screen print
then then there's embroidery which is
what you're wearing right now with your
d-mac honors program it's actually
thread that we're sewn onto the shirt so
so as soon as you see someone is the
first thing you look at whatever they
got that shirt oh they printed it and
then even in this cool thing that's
going on right now at the industry
there's their sublimation - which is
actually you get it at a uniform or a
shirt and it's printed out on a roller
and it's dyed into the fabric okay yeah
so it's on the shirt so you can have as
many colors on it as possible but those
machines are so expensive that a lot of
times those are done by the manufacturer
today
and that's a really cool process I know
a lot of times I'll do a race and before
they give me the shirt I'll feel it and
if it feels too raised I won't take it
just because I know it'll
my skin yes so that's the kind of thing
you're talking about where it's just not
gonna bother you you know it's part of
the fabric yeah and then yeah it's but
they're more expensive in the process
the production time of those is anywhere
from 4 to 16 weeks depending on where
you get it from okay all right how did
you decide to be here so I think you
said we're in an old shirts I'm I'm new
to Ankeny I've only been here ten years
so but my wife has been in Ankeny all
her life so 35 years but you started
back in 11 what made you choose here in
the middle of you know on Ankeny
Boulevard well we wanted somewhere with
high traffic flow okay and we also
wanted something that was cost-effective
being a new business and this meant both
those requirements ideally it's not a
great great spot because it's four
different levels okay that's got the
right square footage we have we want but
it's I mean it met those requirements we
have a lot of traffic Luther people
drive by on a regular basis I'm in a
Ridge we're also gonna be able to put a
sign up originally but they turn that
down after the fact that there's no sign
there but you know right now we're out
of space and we're not in really good
functional space all right you're
looking to move and be in more uptown
and I'm Ankeny between the clipper and
and Bryan how long have you been in
Ankeny I grew up here okay and I
graduated in 87 I went to college and
moved away until the fall of 2000 we
moved back from Illinois so can you tell
me a little bit about what's going on
with Uptown because it seems like
there's a resurgence it it was it was
probably pretty well attended when you
were back here in the early eighteen L
[Music]
it seems to be there's some some bit of
resurgence coming back fire trucker I
know is a staple there or so certainly a
place that you can hear say okay well
it's this place from fire trucker and I
know that they're there building down
there what makes you decide to come down
to Uptown I keep wanting to call it
downtown anytime in North Ankeny so it's
downtown for me but it's uptown well
for one it's personal for me growing up
here I think it's an area that needs to
be rejuvenated sure I'm also on the
Uptown Association Board of Directors
okay so uh it's it's a natural fit I
think it's a growing area with the bike
trail with with the pavilions with fire
truck or leading towers up there Walnut
Street gallery uptown food and beverage
the Clipper I mean I there's many more
stores that are really popular there but
they're also doing some new development
in regards to housing and also new
business development that's gonna make
it a lot more attractive area for people
to visit okay well tell me a little bit
about your so is the business just local
so local teams are you statewide are you
national are you international just
always curious to see how far you reach
because obviously it seems like you've
outgrown your space you've it's you've
only been bit I want to say only been in
business seven years but you've
experienced a lot of growth what where's
your market um it's mainly in Polk
County but we do work throughout the
state of Iowa and we also do some orders
in Illinois Missouri Minnesota and even
as far west as California okay but it's
not a predominant part of our business
the only thing internationally do is we
have a couple followers on Facebook
internationally okay website they're
trying to figure out the sublimation
thing oh yeah it looks really cool it's
really cool okay what do you think is
unique about your business you know I
thought about this because there's it
there's thousands of screen printers
decorated across the country and one of
the reasons I opened my business up was
I used to contract printout people okay
as the coach no is it well no like when
I was selling out of my house okay I had
to find printers to print my stuff for
people
okay and the thing I was really
frustrated with was when something went
well I people told me thank you but I
didn't really do it then when something
went wrong I had to take responsibility
for it and it wasn't my funds but most
the time things went wrong I didn't get
something I didn't got something on time
they would lose my product so I think
our on-time percent for screen printing
is over 99%
I mean we we just deliver really yeah I
mean we're really good I mean we don't
we do insult you but that's just
just really high we because it's always
been delayed now if something's late
it's because something's backordered
okay or in the production process we
damaged the government and we get
everything done and then we Reaper the
other government later okay that but I
mean we get everything done on with
screen printing in the things that will
delay screen printing or if somebody
can't give you sizes okay or if they
don't approve art you know so any of
those things to think those things
happen it really delays a process but
once arts approved we're always
delivering you're the person that does
that keeps after them all right you need
to call them again
find out if they approve the artist
doesn't collection manage it follows up
on our artists and also follows up with
other customers and then yeah but ii
think the most unique thing about us is
I think our staff is very stable you
know there's a ton of turnover in this
industry we've had Eric that's been or
six years Jake that's been in six years
Riley and Mike been or two and a half
years Sarah was here for six and a half
years and just left that's a really long
time yeah I know so I think that's
unique about our business as we know our
customers and our customers know us okay
so what you mentioned a little bit of
involvement in the Ankeny community tell
me a little bit more about how you're
involved and how it fits in the business
talking about maybe a little bit more
about uptown or other places that you're
involved so I mean it could be as little
as as much as you know coaching your
kids teams or whatever it is yeah I get
mention I'm in the Uptown Association
I'm also in a BNI group I'm in a another
Power Group that there's business owners
it meets every other week and then I'm
involved in Kiwanis and I try to stay
involved some of the school functions at
the high school level and elementary
level to stay involved with what they're
doing in regards their fundraising and
their booster clubs and then like you
mention I do code I've coached my kids
okay youth teams over the years is that
so just this is no just a personal
question not not with the business I
really struggle to coach my own children
cuz when they when something goes wrong
it's really tough for me to be the
person talking to him do you have an
assistant coach that's like oh this
one's my kid all right can you talk to
him or do have any strategies for that
because I know many parents have to
coach their own kids and it's sometimes
a little bit that's sometimes very tough
you know that was really difficult for
me I've always been one that
my kids gonna play less it'll be harder
on my kid unless everybody else can see
that there's so much better than
everybody because usually most people
coach League right kids get a play all
right so my daughter really struggled
that she said I don't get a coach
anymore for like three years and I
understood that my son is like I don't
care just do what you need to do it's
been it's actually been a struggle
because I I don't think my own kids have
been able to enjoy athletics with me
coaching as much as a lot of people
coach them yeah same with my dad I was
always a midfielder with soccer because
well you can't be the forward because
then I'm showing favoritism yes you'd
have to be all the way in the back so
let's put you as a midfielder that way
you can you can get a goal if you really
struggle but you can't be up front you
know just hitting the easy one unless
you're so much faster but yeah you know
you're putting luck but that didn't
happen that way yeah yeah so well they
say that the entrepreneur is someone who
works 80 hours so they don't have to
work 40 hours for someone else and and
sometimes that's in the pejorative
sometimes it's it's just how it is you
just enjoy what you do but what advice
would you give to maybe someone who
who's like you know I just I just don't
like working for other people I would
prefer to work for myself I'd prefer to
do things my way
what's the biggest piece of advice you
would give them um first thing is take
more time to plan before you open up you
know plan and then plan and then over
plan again and then also make sure you
have more money than you think you
really need okay and then the last thing
is on the thing I was unprepared for as
a college in high school baseball coach
I thought about baseball all the time
but for the time I woke up the time went
to bed what I could do differently
better how I could you know whether it
was recruiting whatever as a business
owner I've taken it I also find that to
case what bit business I might not be
physically at work or working from home
but my mind is always on the finances
employees customers short long term
goals and so somebody that wants to open
a business they need to be prepared for
at times being very distant from other
parts our lives because your mind will
not get off their business yeah okay all
right well what's the best way for
someone to contact you they can contact
me at Randy at wheeze teas calm and that
is spelled w E
tea EES calm or they can call us at 517
927 well thanks so much for being on the
Ankeny podcast thank you support for
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