FROM THE GROUND UP
How we boot strapped our business, withINSPIRED into existence.
“It all started years ago as an off the wall idea, yet even then I had an innate feeling it could change people’s lives and it has.”
We all wonder what it takes to successfully launch a new product or company. There are literally millions of articles, books, blogs, websites and courses on how to do it. So many sources and it’s hard to tell what actually works. In this short piece I am going to share my insight on the subject and what I feel is essential to launch a successful brand. I am going to share with you what I have experienced on our journey to launch withINSPIRED and in true engineer fashion I’ll keep it as concise as possible.
1. Let Your Passion Fuel Your Effort.
We all desire freedom in some form. For some that freedom comes in the form of money. Another may want unlimited time with family and friends. Yet others want the ability to call the shots and make the critical decisions themselves. For me freedom takes on parts of all those things but beyond any of those I want the freedom to create. The creative process is where I find my so called Zen. In addition, I have a strong passion to connect with people on a one to one basis. I love to get to know individuals, understand what make them tick and to learn the stories that have made them who they are. Everyone has a story.
WithINSPIRED has been the perfect vehicle to enable all of these things for me. Our brand is about people and their struggles, triumphs, challenges and dreams and our inspirational clothing is a vehicle that not only allows us to help them manifest these intentions, but the stories our customers share provide a glimpse into who they are and in some cases how we can help them on their journey. So, whatever endeavor you pursue, make sure that it encompasses your passion. Your passion and purpose will drive you through the rough patches and with a little grace, you will achieve your dream.
2. Find Your Champions
Another critical piece to the success of any business or endeavor is to identify your champions. Teaming up with those who truly care about you and your success. It might be a friend, a colleague, family members or maybe a mentor. For me my biggest supporter and champion has been by business partner, Kelly. Without her there would never have been a withINSPIRED. There never would have been a business. She was able to make my crazy idea a reality. She brought withINSPIRED to life through her incredible branding and overall business execution. She not only believed in me, she believe in the idea and for that I am truly grateful.
In addition, Kelly and I set out to identify and leverage our other champions from the beginning. We did this by creating a list of individuals we called key influencers. These individuals were part of our close network that we felt would not only help us get the word out about the withINSPIRED launch but provide early key feedback on their experience with the website, buying process, social media and overall experience with the brand.
Other champions emerged along the way, but these early supporters truly helped us launch. By identifying our true champions we were able to maximize our efforts where it mattered and not waste time, emotion and energy on those not truly invested in our business.
“WithIN you is the light of a thousand suns”
-Robert Adams
3. Let Your Customers Drive Your Product Train
We were purposeful in our initial products for launch. We minimized the product skews for multiple reasons including branding and order processing. Specifically on the branding front we wanted to keep the focus on the brand and the uniqueness of the product. We also wanted to highlight the stories behind the various target market segments. In essence we were looking to create specific groups our customers could relate with and feel comfortable sharing their own stories.
We were also aware that having a lot of different products at launch would complicate order fulfillment. The last thing we wanted to do was have a ton of orders and not be able to fulfill them because we were caught up in a web of product complexity or worse turn our customers off with incorrect product.
Another feature we liked about starting with a limited product line is it would give us an opportunity to engage with our customers and ultimately let them drive us to what products should be offered. There also abundant marketing opportunities with engaging with your customers to let them select, vote and have input into the new product.
Additional colors, styles and products will come, but for now we are focused on building our brand and provide high quality product to our loyal and growing customer base.
4. A Little Each Day
It seems like every one is stretched thin. So much to do, family, work, events and now dealing with the pandemic. At times it’s hard to keep your focus on what you really want, on your true passion. Kelly and I are no different. Our schedules would often swamp us and launching a business often times seemed like an impossible task. However, we took the approach that if we did something, even little every day we would get there. Some days were better than others. Some days we cranked, while other days we could only manage a phone call or to place an order for supplies. It was these efforts that compounded and as they built on each other we began to gather momentum and before we knew it we had a business and made our first sale.
“What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives withIN us.”
— Henry David Thoreau
I hope this piece has provided some insight on our journey and more importantly I hope it might give you some motivation along your path to what you truly want. Remember, today is a great day to find out what’s withIN you!
I wish you happiness.
Dave
