In this CAS Podcast episode, we share 9 important things on how to be an amazing business person. If you follow them it can massively improve your business like never before!

First in – Last out

Relationship building expert

Crisis Management Adept

Financial Acumen

Flexibly Minded

Thirst for new connections

Hunger to learn

Handles Competition

Internally Motivated

After listening to the past two episodes you might find you have a few competitors that are clearly going to be long term struggles for you.

They might have a great formula down for business practice, production, sales, pricing, etc. These competitors might be right in your vertical market or maybe is a market close to yours.

You may sell spirit wear, and they focus on sports uniforms.

Either way, they are here to stay and you might have to go head to head with them on some sales.

What else can you do?

Turn your competitor into a partner

So first why should you? Aren't they the enemy!?

People outlast business

It puts customers #1

Competition becomes a friendly challenge vs a war

What are the things you can do together?

Outsource

Partner up at events

Create an economy of scale

Enter a new market together

How do you get started?

Attend events

Refer them business in an obvious way

Share struggles with them

We surveyed 100 business owners and 80% are currently doing this. There will be times you get burned and times you make out like a bandit. Keep your guard up while also opening up a friendly relationship. The more you do it, the better you will get.

After listening to Episode 96 you should have a great insight on your competition. Chances are there are many custom apparel shops in your area, but only a few seem to be direct competition.

Holding tight to your business structure and running a great business should put you on the path to leading the pack. These include:

The above are essential to leading the pack of your competition. If you are lacking in any of the above, spend the time and effort to take things to the next level. (you can try listening to more podcasts first, as we cover all of these topics)

However, sometimes it's not that simple. What happens when the competition is so much better at all of the above?

For example, imagine you own a small donut shop. You make some delicious glazed donuts and people line up every morning to get their coffee and breakfast.

One day a new donut shop opens up. They:

How do you compete with this? You notice your line is shorter and profits are down. You cant lower pricing, you can't serve customers as fast.

This story can be true of any business, how do you handle if your market seems saturated or the competition in your niche is beating you across the board

What's next?

You have some choices to make that involve:

Rebranding, Restructuring or Reinvesting

Rebranding - This involves changing the look and feel of your company. It can involve a complete name and style change, or just an overall look to help appeal to your demographic.

Reasons to Rebrand:

Restructuring - This is when you change the way your business operates. It can involve any facet of the business.

Reasons to Restructure:

Reinvesting - Putting more money into your business to revamp it. Taking from profits and putting back into the business for the sake of growth / maintaining business.

Reasons to reinvest:

Obviously, we are a bit biased because we are in the machine business, but we hear about companies reinvesting consistently. The results are amazing. We have embroidery companies who see the value in offering UV prints. We have companies running a 20 year old embroidery business than realize no one local is offering bling.

Reinvesting is one of the ways long standing companies stay on top. Bringing in new technology and new structured for the business to outpace the competition.

Be sure to build a plan and make changes like the mentioned above after you've determined one or all of these are necessary to win.

Another store has opened up or YOU are the new store. Business is slow and you really feel its because of that competition. Their prices are too low, or they seem to draw in all the big accounts. Whatever it is, you suspect it's them and they are holding you back from success.

Here is the catch.. how do you really know? What evidence do you have?

In this episode, we are going to take a dive into your competition to figure out a few things.

Step 1 - Identification

Step 2 - Look at their marketing/branding.

Step 3 - Shop them

Step 4 - Compare and Contrast

What you will do with this data is :

In the next episode, we are going to discuss if you need to work on any rebranding, restructuring or reinvesting. Now that you know about your competition you know a few things.

Wordpress makes up a huge portion of websites... way more than you would expect. About 25% of all websites are built on the WordPress CMS (content management system)

What is Wordpress?

Wordpress is an online website creation tool. It allows you to create and post web pages and blog posts without needing to know any code. AKA a Content Management System

Who should use Wordpress?

-You want to build a website with limitless possibilities that can be altered or changed to your personal preferences at any time.

-You aren't sure if you want an eCommerce store

-You are considering posting articles/blog posts

-You'd like to manage your own pages/blog posts without knowing code.

-You don't want to pay the huge fees and maintenance costs of custom coding an entire site.

What are the downsides?

Wordpress will require some maintenance. You are going to have to update the websites software regularly.

How to build your first website with Wordpress

Step 1 - Pick a place to search and purchase your domain

-There are plenty of places to register and purchase your domain name. It's actually a bit more like leasing it... you have to continue to renew it or you lose it.

-We will focus on two for the podcast for reasons explained later

BlueHost.com

-Once you are here begin to check if the domain you want is available. The #1 you should go for first is yourbusinessname.com

Yourbusinessname.net

-If you have a very common name, you may have to get creative. Just make sure its something that makes sense and your customers can find easily.

-Purchase the rights to the domain now... this should be about $15 a year. (buy more years, save more money)

Step 2 - Get your Hosting set up

-Hosting is essentially where the data for your store will live.

-Godaddy and Bluehost both have 'Wordpress Hosting" - this means its all set up for a WordPress page. You don't have to hire a web developer to set it up for you.

-Choose your plan - monthly or annual fee (usually about $80-150/yr)

-Essentially the lowest cost option is probably enough to get you started.

-Look at the list and see if upgrades make sense to you.

-If you aren't sure call the company and tell them about your site, they will advise the right plan.

-Here's where you also get your business email address - you can get Google suite or Office online with a domain email for $5-$15/month.

Step 3 - Initial Site Set up

-This step will be easy if you used Godaddy or BlueHost. In a few clicks they complete all the steps for you.

Step 4 - Picking a Theme / Template

-The theme is the overall look and design of your site that has been pre-build by a developer. These are going to be from Free up to $100.

-Going with a prebuild theme is one of the benefits of WordPress. A lot of the work to set the site up is done, you just fill in the blanks.

-Under THEMES in your Wordpress Dashboard you will see an option to add new themes. You can search from tens of thousands of themes.

-Free themes are tempting, but they are free for a reason. Paid themes usually come with tech support and have more options.

-You can also check out Themeforest.net - this is a marketplace for themes. They are known for having great themes for a reasonable price. $50 will usually buy you a very good quality theme.

Step 5 - Install and Set up your theme

-Installing is easy, its right under that ad theme area of the WordPress dashboard. There are 100 youtube videos on how to do this.

-Once installed follow their instructions/documentation to the T! Start at step one and finish at the end. The theme has this set up for a reason.

Step 6 - Begin customizing

-Now that your site and theme are set up, you can begin to add your own text, images, menus and posts.

TIPS:

-Small image within text / Logo 150-300 pixels wide

-Large featured image - 500 - 1000 pixels wide

-Background image - 1500 - 3000 pixels wide

-If the page/post doesn't look like it should in the theme, contact support for the theme. Include screenshots and they can tell you if you missed a step.

-Work on one thing at a time - don't try to build the entire site in a night.

Should you hire help?

-If you are struggling with some of the above steps, you might want to hire some help to get the job done. You can find WordPress experts for a fairly low price on places like upwork.com or fivrr.com.

-Hire someone to help you with customizing, designing and getting things right. Since you are working with a WordPress theme, you likely aren't going to have to pay a ton.

-When hiring someone go to USERS in your WordPress dashboard. There you can give them a login, that you can later revoke if you no longer need their help.

-If you aren't a good artist yet, get some help with the images are your site.

-You don't always need custom images, check out places like Shutterstock, or istockphoto and you may be able to purchase some nice images for a professional looking site.

The next step is to continue watching videos online and reading about WordPress. You can get pretty proficient at updating and designing your site with practice.

Eventually you will figure out what parts you like, and which parts you want to always hire out.

You can create amazing marketing content. Creating an effective marketing plan is the goal of all entrepreneurs, but the execution is often lacking.

In this episode of the CAS podcast, we are helping you get set up to create a successful marketing campaign. As a custom apparel business owner, your success in marketing not only depends on having good ideas, but also executing those ideas to make sure you have measurable success.

Stage 1: Make a Plan

Define your Brand - what is your business personality? One exercise would be selecting 3 words that describe how you want to be seen to your customers.

Examples:

Do you have a plan/strategy for what this marketing will do? Specifically.

Where do you want to deliver your message?

What will the message be?

Does this align with your brand?

Be sure your marketing aligns with your business personality. Is your message and delivery method lined up?

What is your Goal?

Set a number of sales, revenue earned, number of new customers. Essentially answer the question.. "If i can earn $X then I would do this marketing again"

Stage 2: Set Up

Creative

Do you need art? Images? pictures? Video? How will they get done? What are the specs?

CTA

What do you want your prospect to do? Visit website, call you, attend an event.

Offer

What is the specific offer? Why are they going to follow through with your CTA? Coupon, deal, special, freebie

Shareable

Get the best bang for your buck. Make it shareable... website, social, email sign up, Facebook page like, etc.

Stage 3: Create

Sketch it out

Briefly sketch it out on paper/computer. What will it look like? is it just text? Have an idea of what your marketing content will look like. a concept.

Well Designed

Your art should meet requirements of ad needs. Always overshoot on quality, you don't want poor quality in your design, art, pics, etc. Don't DIY if not in your skillset

Matching pieces

Be sure your images, colors, fonts and word styling all match. If your images look casual, be sure your wording/brand is. If it feels corporate, don't wear flip flops in the video

Free of Typos and poor grammar

Stage 4: Execute / Test

Usually this is a stage where you take your first shot (or shots) and see how it works out. You aren't always looking for a massive win, but signs that this is the right direction.

If you plan to advertise in every local park for sports apparel, start with one and see how it works.

If you plan to advertise on Facebook, start with a couple of ads with different offers or images and a small budget. Once you see its working, bump up the budget.

Step 5: Revamp or Scale Up

Two things may have happened here:

Marketing landed somewhere between terrible failure and below your goal. If this is the case, revamp your ideas. Try something different. Try a different offer or goal.

SUCCESS - if this happened don't mess with it! Spend more, scale it up, and keep an eye on it until it reaches max potential.

Small business owners ask a ton of questions, a lot of great ones too. Yet, there are a handful of really important questions that rarely get asked about marketing. We have put together the most important marketing questions you should be asking to help drive your business towards your dreams.

Here are the questions you should be asking:

Types of marketing we discuss:

Having a plan for marketing and knowing what you are talking about sets your business up for success.

Be sure to listen to the rest of the episodes to learn all you can about marketing and setting your business up for success.

Why should you validate your new products?

You should know if your new product meets a few standard criteria. You want to be able to: make money with it, understand the market, know the competition and understand the business of this new product. If you jump on something because it's an impulsive idea, you might find out it's not what you expected.

So HOW do you validate a new idea or product? The steps are simple and deliberate.

1. Who is the target market?

This is defining who will purchase this product from you. Is it new mothers, motorcycle crews, adult recreational sports players, etc

HOW: Attend events where these people go. Visit their stores. Get to know the industry. takes notes on everything you can learn. Age, gender, interests, style, income, etc

2. What are the problems, wants and needs in this market?

Understand the personality and lifestyle this market of people live in. Are they very busy or retired? Do they have a lot of disposable income? Do they prefer a certain style of apparel?

HOW: Survey people, brainstorm with people who know the industry. Observe them.

3. How big is the potential for this market?

If you want to focus on a fishing market, and you live in the desert, you probably won't have a lot of customers.

HOW: How many people are in this market? How many businesses, or leagues, or population. Try to get actual stats where you can. Ask people, look online, etc

4. Who are the competitors?

You should know your competition. This doesn’t mean be discouraged by them, but know what they offer and how they do it.

HOW: Ask people and search online. Shop them (or have a friend shop them). Get to know their offering

5. What are they missing

Do they not offer short runs or same-day delivery. Do they only offer cotton or only polyester. Do they only offer it in embroidery or screen printed or single colors?

HOW: See #4 and compare it to #2

6. How exciting is the solution and whats the demand?

Is offering what your competition does not going to lead to sales? profits?

HOW: Survey, interview people, ask in FB groups.

Once you have gone through understanding these… you can make an educated decision and determine if your new idea is valid and worth your time, money and energy.

In this episode we have put together a formula to follow step-by-step that WILL get you more customers through the power of networking. This formula combines working hard, being personable and a little touch of psychology to give you that extra edge.

Here are the steps to making money with networking:

Attend Social Events

Go with intent to meet people (not to sell)

Having cards is important, GETTING cards is more important.

Contact them ASAP.

If they discussed business or a referral, you are in. Contact them

Otherwise next steps are…..

Drop a quick email or social media contention

Let them know it was a pleasure to meet them

Be POSITIVE about something

View their website, store or social account and genuinely compliment

“I just went to your Instagram feed and love your pictures, so

“I ended up checking out your website, wow love the design”

“I googled your company and saw 100 5 star reviews on google WOW”

I love your idea about…..

It was really interesting discussing…

I didn’t know ….. could be so interesting.

Follow up with a “by the way” email

Keep engaged with them

TIPS:

Using the above formula will help you build a large network of people who are business associates. Never forget to keep in contact, even if just every few months. Always remember to refer business whenever possible.

TIP: If you are looking to build a network of associates, be sure to have a good way to keep track of them. Using a CRM is a good idea, can add notes, and access mobile.

If you are listening to this, you have a Cricut or a Silhouette, basically a cutter you got for $200-$600 at a local hobby store.

You make things for yourself, for friends and family. Maybe you are even making a little money here and there, or you've opened an etsy shop.

You might even be fulfilling orders almost every day.

What you all have in common is taking the next step to growing yourself into a better business, or maybe you might think of it as a "real" business.

What are the next steps:

Make it a business - Register with the state, get a resale or tax certificate, get a email address with your business name

Find Blank suppliers - stop buying from Walmart

Social Pages - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn

Website..... maybe? Order online?

Start quoting in writing, on a form. Sales Quote excel /google sheet / apple sheet

Start invoicing the same way in writing

Find a way to accept credit cards. Circle pay, Paypal

Treat every customer, like a customer. even friends / family.

Create a price book / price sheet.

Get commercial equipment

Story of comparing a job from a hobby to a commercial machine

Hobby Cutter: cut a 58.5in Triangle..... that is 11.5 across bottom and 23.5 up, then back 23.5 down takes. 30.5 seconds, when in fast mode on certain models, its 15.6 seconds.

Graphtec Commercial does that in about 2.5 seconds.

NOTE:

That means when you are using a hobby cutter, you are going to cut about 12" x 24" at a time. If you are cutting t-shirt designs that are a 7x7 square, you can cut 3 at a time. One over the other on a 12x24 in sheet. That is at a speed of about 2 inches per second.

Compared to a commercial unit, that is not that much more $.... you can cut 2 wide and about 27 long... so essentially over 50 at a time! Also at a speed that is 12 x faster.

Lets break this down into an actual job.

You are doing a family vacation to a theme park. Part of their tradition is making shirts for the whole family. That's 3 brothers, and their spouses, plus 2 kits a piece. Then a couple of sisters and their spouses on the other side of the family (plus kits) That's a total of 10 adults and 10 kids. Its a 3 day trip, so they want 3 shirts each. 60 shirts total.

If the design is that 7x7 how long will it take to do?

Hobby cutter:

Commercial cutter:

Then you are ready to finally place them on the shirts.

Your job goes from being done a few hours after the kids go to bed, compared to trying to stay up all night, passing out at 2am.... then waking up in the morning and doing it for another hour or two.

This is quality time with your family & friends or time used to make more money / more sales.

So how much did you make an hour?

Hobby cutter - 8.5 hours of work for 60 shirts

You double the amount of money you make per hour of work! You take this extra time and market on Facebook, attend events to meet more people, spend time with your family, spend more time building up your home based business.