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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