Business Advice With Style - 5 Tips For A Man Looking To Start A Menswear Company
Hi!
I'm Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today, I'm going to be giving a little bit of advice on a man who's considering opening
up a men's store.
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This is a question that came in.
"Hi, Antonio!
First, let me say thank you for everything you do."
Well, you're welcome.
"I'm a man and I like to dress nice.
Recently in my area, Eugene, Oregon, a long-time big and tall clothier went out of business.
Now, there are only two choices for menswear and I really don't like either of them, so
I'm considering opening up my own shop.
I'm 46 years old though and I'm married with children, and I'm just wondering, is this
too much of a dream or can I open up a shop that would focus on socks, wristwatches, hats,
you know, men's accessories?
Please let me know what you think.
Eric."
All right, Eric, that's a great question and I hear this a lot.
When you start a business, a lot of people not only approach you and say you're crazy,
but they also say, "Wow!
I always considered starting a business, so can you give me some advice?"
Well, I've actually gotten this question so many times and in so many different ways that
I've recently started a course that I'm working with a number of gentlemen and we're going
to be going through and talking about entrepreneurship and other things like that.
That's separate from this video, but if you would like to learn more about that, I'm putting
it out there, contact me via email.
The course has already started and I've already picked the group, but we're going to be talking
about -- basically, I want to impart them what I've learned in business school and what
I've learned in real life and be able to put that, but I'm going to try to give you five
quick tips on things that you should be considering just to get you started, and this is something
that you need to do a lot of research on, but you need to put a time limit on the amount
of research and really just throw it out there.
Nowadays with the internet, there really isn't an excuse.
You could simply start selling on eBay or another platform and really you're in business.
So without further ado, let me jump into the five points.
1.
It's been done before, so go out there and talk with other business owners who are doing
just this.
You say that there are two existing shops, and maybe you don't like their business model
so much, but you should seek to go talk to the managers, talk to the guys who founded
those companies, or find companies that are close, maybe something in the women's sphere,
something that is very close that's going to give you an idea of what it takes to put
into this because even though it may appear that a business just started up, this may
have been ten years in the making and it's always best to speak with the person that's
actually heading this up, the owner.
Oftentimes, we don't have people coming up and asking us about this, especially if you're
not online.
If you're just a brick and mortar, you rarely have somebody come in who is interested in
speaking with you, the owner, and learning how you own and operate.
And again, it doesn’t have to be exactly menswear.
It can be something closely related or even something that may not appear to be related
but is the same business model, so perhaps a jewelry store or perhaps something, maybe
they sell lights, but all of these companies, they're businesses and probably 90% of business
is the same when you go from business to business.
And that 10%, well, there's so much in business, believe me, it's a lot.
2.
Look to learn from the best.
The best may not be in your area and this is when you're going to have to cast a wider
net.
I personally like websites like Mixergy, The Rise to the Top.
These places, they interview tons of entrepreneurs.
I know Mixergy, Andrew Warner, he's interviewed over 700 entrepreneurs and this is where you
can listen to hour-long interviews.
We're talking businesses that are way outside of the menswear niche, but I think that's
perfect because again, most of business is the same when you go from business to business.
And if you can understand what fundamentals it takes to run a business and you learn from
the best or people that have been successful, and some of those who haven't been successful,
you can avoid making those mistakes right out the gate.
3.
Do the business math.
You need to understand business, and the big thing a lot of people forget especially when
they get excited about a startup and they think, "Oh, all I need is to put up a website
and to get thousands of people to come to it," well, it doesn’t work that way.
You have to have sales.
You have to have people buy your product and your sales have to be quite a bit bigger than
your cost.
They can't just be barely bigger than your cost unless you're a type of business that's
going to have huge volumes.
Most business that's starting out there, you're not going to have huge volumes, so you've
got to do the math.
You've got to say, "Okay, I expect to sell X number of products and it's going to cost
me this," and really break out what all your costs are going to be.
When I started my business, I underestimated my cost and I thought I was accounting for
everything, but you don't account for everything, so really make sure you've got enough margin
in what you want to do because you have to do the numbers.
You have to say, "Okay, I want to be able to make $50,000 or $100,000 a year and not
work 200 hours a week."
You've got to do that math and if you're having to work 200 hours a week, I'm telling you
that you're just not going to be able to find those kind of hours.
Even a hundred hours a week is not sustainable.
You really want to be able to find the type of business where in a hundred hours a week,
maybe the first year, understood.
That happens, but after three years in, you don't want to be working for $3 to $4 an hour.
That's not why we get into business.
We get into business, we take the risk, we jump off the boat, we get in there because
we want to be rewarded for it, so make sure the math makes sense because you don't want
to find yourself two years down the road saying, "My gosh, I can't make this business workable.
I wish I would've seen this three years ago."
4.
You need to have a competitive advantage.
You need to have something that sets your business apart, and I'll give you a couple
of examples.
Duluth Trading Company, they're right here down in Madison, Wisconsin.
When people think Duluth Trading Company, if you've never been to the site, you need
to go check them out.
They're all about work wear.
Now, there are many other things and they've got some great pieces of gear, but they're
all about work wear.
One of my favorite pants from them are the fire hose pants and these are really, really
tough.
Literally you could take a guy and you could drag him behind a vehicle and it's going to
take a while for him running across the road to wear through those fire hose pants.
They purposely make this gear for the large American working man.
If you look at their shirts, they've got like extra gussets and all this stuff.
Go watch their commercials.
I'll link to them down there below, awesome company.
That's their competitive advantage, is they stay focused on the working man, and not just
any working man, but the large working man.
Duluth Trading Company, check it out.
The other company, my own company, atailoredsuit.com, I'm very proud of the fact that we only focus
on wardrobes.
I realized not early enough in, but it took me a while to figure this out, but I just
focus on wardrobes.
I can't help you if you want a single shirt or if you want a single suit.
Yeah, I can help you with my videos and you can go watch it and learn from me, but the
customer I focus on is the man in transition who wants his entire wardrobe put together
and really comes in, trusts -- he's watched maybe a hundred of my videos or he's read
50 of my articles and he realizes that, "Antonio knows what he's talking about.
I'm making a transition to become a lawyer," or, "I'm going to be heading to the United
Nations and really, I need him to build me a wardrobe that's going to instill trust,
that's going to help me sell more, that's going to really help me negotiate better,"
and that's what I specialize in.
Think about what are you going to set yourself apart, how are you going to separate yourself
from not only the other two menswear stores, but other companies out there on the web.
5.
Ensure your family is onboard.
I wouldn't be where I'm at today if my wife wasn't supporting me.
And if she was nagging on me every day saying, "When are you going to make a million dollars?
When are you going to stop working 12 to 14 hours a day?"
I would not be in business because no man can go a thousand days with somebody nagging
on them like that.
And really, you need to make sure that your partner is onboard with this.
Also think about your kids.
It sounds like maybe your kids are a bit older.
Make sure that they're going to be able to -- you need to look at the health of your
kids.
I know healthcare is a huge issue.
Look at all of those details before you make the plunge, give yourself a time limit and
make sure you put your family first.
There's a lot more I could've covered, but I think those are five great points to start
with.
If you go check out Mixergy, you'll learn a lot more about business and entrepreneurship.
I wish you the best.
I think this country and this world needs a lot more go-getters, people out there starting
great businesses.
And if you're a business owner, don't forget to dress sharp because it does make a difference
even if you're not in the menswear industry.
This has been Antonio Centeno with Real Men Real Style.
I'll see you guys in the next video.
Bye-bye.