- Joined
- May 19, 2014
- Messages
- 10
So I've started my own clothing line.
The inspiration for the company came about a little over a year ago at the ripe age of 18. I had been hitting the gym religiously for six months with a couple of buddies and we saw major gains. At six feet tall, I had jumped from a lanky 138 lbs to a healthy 160 lbs in the matter of 25-26 weeks. Many people had saw our results and used that as source of inspiration to achieve their own fitness goals. Seeing others reach their own goals made me realize that this was a feeling that I want to share with everybody, so my buddies and I decided that we would start a business intent on inspiring others to pursue their goals with confidence. We started thinking clothing as well as creating blogs and giving endorsements to young athletes, musicians and the sort. We start saving our money and writing down our ideas for the venture.
Summer rolls around and everything starts to change. A very close friend of ours passes away due to cancer, and we all cope with it in our own ways. One of my friends picks up a manager position at a franchise retail store while my other buddy and I get heavy into drugs and women. Needless to say, this shifted the dynamics of everything and eventually we all had a fallout. All the money we had saved, gone.
I held on to this idea of the company throughout it all. At the end of the summer, I decided that I no longer wanted to live like this. So just like that, I stopped doing drugs, I picked up a couple jobs, started saving money, registered for some classes.
It was this semester that I had met a person that I struck it off with immediately. We went to the school library to do some homework together, and that's when he brings up the idea of starting a clothing company. He goes on about how he wants to create a lowkey, limited edition type of clothing label. My face lights up, and I tell him all about this idea I have. He's all for it. We become business partners the next day.
So we start planning, preparing, saving. We worked multiple jobs and sold some pot on the side. I spent almost $4,000 personal cash on buying and creating the products, however my business partner has put in minimal effort. I'm starting to realize that not only am I putting in significantly more time and money into this project, but we also want different things. I want to inspire people to do great things, and he wants to sell pot and be able to say he owns a clothing line.
I'm torn because I'm starting to realize that this probably isn't going to work out. Not only does our company violate a few fastlane commandments, but I'm the only one who's putting any effort into it. Given the months of thought and amount of time and money invested into this venture, I'm not sure if I should just see this all the way through or start a new solo project.
If I were to stick with the clothing line, I would have to brainstorm ways to create more value because we are not making any sales. I've considered running a blog designed to provide motivation and bring attention to real life people that are accomplishing their goals.
If I were to start a solo project, I would want to write an ebook (much more fastlane). I would account my personal experience of the fitness goals I had accomplished in my six months as well as describe in detail the mentality, workout regiment, and diet changes I implemented to reach that goal. Ultimately, the "why" behind this venture would be much similar to that of the clothing line. Starting over however would ultimately mean abandoning the work I've put in for the last 8 months. This would be a $4,000 lesson. I've considered dropping the prices on all of the clothes, getting them off, taking my money and running with it. That would put me at healthy $5,000-15,000 which I could put down on rent somewhere and leave my old life in the past.
It feels like I'm at a crossroads. I'm 20 years old with no sense of direction, so a lot of family are telling me to go back to school, but I know that's not going to work out for me. A lot of my "friends" just wanna smoke and sell weed, but that's not for me either. It's difficult to tell if I've reached the "desert of desertion" and am desperately seeking validation or if this is truly just a bad idea. It feels like I'm knee deep in some shit.
Questions I'm looking for answers to:
1) Does this idea have potential or should I scrap it and move on?
2) If so, how can I provide more value to the customer?
3) Does this business have the potential to be fastlane?
4) Is there anything about the website that turns you off?
Thank you for your time.
The inspiration for the company came about a little over a year ago at the ripe age of 18. I had been hitting the gym religiously for six months with a couple of buddies and we saw major gains. At six feet tall, I had jumped from a lanky 138 lbs to a healthy 160 lbs in the matter of 25-26 weeks. Many people had saw our results and used that as source of inspiration to achieve their own fitness goals. Seeing others reach their own goals made me realize that this was a feeling that I want to share with everybody, so my buddies and I decided that we would start a business intent on inspiring others to pursue their goals with confidence. We started thinking clothing as well as creating blogs and giving endorsements to young athletes, musicians and the sort. We start saving our money and writing down our ideas for the venture.
Summer rolls around and everything starts to change. A very close friend of ours passes away due to cancer, and we all cope with it in our own ways. One of my friends picks up a manager position at a franchise retail store while my other buddy and I get heavy into drugs and women. Needless to say, this shifted the dynamics of everything and eventually we all had a fallout. All the money we had saved, gone.
I held on to this idea of the company throughout it all. At the end of the summer, I decided that I no longer wanted to live like this. So just like that, I stopped doing drugs, I picked up a couple jobs, started saving money, registered for some classes.
It was this semester that I had met a person that I struck it off with immediately. We went to the school library to do some homework together, and that's when he brings up the idea of starting a clothing company. He goes on about how he wants to create a lowkey, limited edition type of clothing label. My face lights up, and I tell him all about this idea I have. He's all for it. We become business partners the next day.
So we start planning, preparing, saving. We worked multiple jobs and sold some pot on the side. I spent almost $4,000 personal cash on buying and creating the products, however my business partner has put in minimal effort. I'm starting to realize that not only am I putting in significantly more time and money into this project, but we also want different things. I want to inspire people to do great things, and he wants to sell pot and be able to say he owns a clothing line.
I'm torn because I'm starting to realize that this probably isn't going to work out. Not only does our company violate a few fastlane commandments, but I'm the only one who's putting any effort into it. Given the months of thought and amount of time and money invested into this venture, I'm not sure if I should just see this all the way through or start a new solo project.
If I were to stick with the clothing line, I would have to brainstorm ways to create more value because we are not making any sales. I've considered running a blog designed to provide motivation and bring attention to real life people that are accomplishing their goals.
If I were to start a solo project, I would want to write an ebook (much more fastlane). I would account my personal experience of the fitness goals I had accomplished in my six months as well as describe in detail the mentality, workout regiment, and diet changes I implemented to reach that goal. Ultimately, the "why" behind this venture would be much similar to that of the clothing line. Starting over however would ultimately mean abandoning the work I've put in for the last 8 months. This would be a $4,000 lesson. I've considered dropping the prices on all of the clothes, getting them off, taking my money and running with it. That would put me at healthy $5,000-15,000 which I could put down on rent somewhere and leave my old life in the past.
It feels like I'm at a crossroads. I'm 20 years old with no sense of direction, so a lot of family are telling me to go back to school, but I know that's not going to work out for me. A lot of my "friends" just wanna smoke and sell weed, but that's not for me either. It's difficult to tell if I've reached the "desert of desertion" and am desperately seeking validation or if this is truly just a bad idea. It feels like I'm knee deep in some shit.
Questions I'm looking for answers to:
1) Does this idea have potential or should I scrap it and move on?
2) If so, how can I provide more value to the customer?
3) Does this business have the potential to be fastlane?
4) Is there anything about the website that turns you off?
Thank you for your time.
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