Shownotes
The Start of RADD-Tees
RADD-Tees started with five students from Barrington High School who are in the Business Incubator Program. After brainstorming their options, they decided the business was going to be making t-shirts. But in a unique way. Knowing that the art departments of high schools are underfunded compared to sports teams, they set out on a mission to provide financial support to this sector.Business Building Insights
- Get the word out into the market about your product. People don’t know you exist unless you tell them.
- Tips when preparing for a Pitch: Be aware of what you’re wearing. Talk loud. Make eye contact.
- Practice your presentation so you can show that you’re confident.
- Social Media Tip: If you are attending events, make sure to post about it all day long. These posts will get a lot of engagement giving you more visibility.
- Don’t be afraid to take risks.
- Be consistent with social media.
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Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 156,
Speaker:We get into groups of five.
Speaker:And in those groups,
Speaker:we actually get to start our own company.
Speaker:Attention. Gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Speaker:Now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode,
Speaker:packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow.
Speaker:Your gift biz here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Today. I'm so excited to bring you Rebecca Peter of rad
Speaker:teas. Red teas is an art t-shirt company.
Speaker:High school students submit designs via the website,
Speaker:and then they print the designs on t-shirts.
Speaker:Part of the revenue of each shirt goes to the artist
Speaker:who created the design.
Speaker:And then some also goes to the student's high school art
Speaker:department. This provides a win-win for everyone involved,
Speaker:the artists have their images available to the world.
Speaker:The art department gains additional financial support,
Speaker:and we all get to wear some really cool t-shirts Rebecca,
Speaker:thank you so much for joining me and welcome to the
Speaker:show. Thank you for having me.
Speaker:So it's great to be here.
Speaker:So you are a high school senior,
Speaker:and you along with some other people are starting this really
Speaker:fun business,
Speaker:right? Our business incubator class.
Speaker:Well, before we go into all of this,
Speaker:I'm so excited to hear the story,
Speaker:but before we do that,
Speaker:I know this sounds a little crazy,
Speaker:cause adults can be crazy sometimes,
Speaker:but I want you to describe yourself by way of a
Speaker:motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to think of a color,
Speaker:either just for yourself,
Speaker:Rebecca, or your team there,
Speaker:that would speak to you,
Speaker:and then also a quote or a saying on the candle,
Speaker:what would it look like?
Speaker:Tease our quote.
Speaker:We'll be reviving our departments daily because rad we spell it
Speaker:to these.
Speaker:So the daily departments make it up and favorite color wise.
Speaker:I think I have to go with T Oh and my
Speaker:teal color.
Speaker:Okay. So rad teas,
Speaker:take it from the beginning.
Speaker:How did this start?
Speaker:Me personally,
Speaker:I moved to Barrington school as a junior,
Speaker:so I didn't know anyone.
Speaker:And I joined this class called business incubator and it was
Speaker:actually a really great class because as a new student,
Speaker:you don't really want to talk to anyone,
Speaker:especially as a junior.
Speaker:You're kind of like,
Speaker:I don't know anyone.
Speaker:I felt awkward,
Speaker:but being in this class,
Speaker:it really allowed me to speak to other like students and
Speaker:have fun.
Speaker:And what we do is we get into groups of five
Speaker:and in those groups we actually get to start our own
Speaker:company. So I got to meet a ton of different and
Speaker:new people.
Speaker:It was really great.
Speaker:And we decided as a,
Speaker:that we wanted to make t-shirts our t-shirts because we noticed
Speaker:that in high schools that you see sports teams like football
Speaker:players and the basketball team,
Speaker:they get much more funding than art students,
Speaker:which we didn't believe was fair.
Speaker:So we wanted to help fix that problem,
Speaker:which is where
Because as you said earlier,
Speaker:for every shirt sold,
Speaker:the art department gets some of the money along with the
Speaker:artists. So we worked through this all last year and eventually
Speaker:in may,
Speaker:we met with a board of investors and they gave us
Speaker:$10,000, which was fantastic.
Speaker:So your initial group of how many are there five of
Speaker:you? Yes.
Speaker:Did you get to choose your group or were you assigned
Speaker:into groups?
Speaker:Okay. It's weird to explain,
Speaker:but people kind of just adjusted who they wanted to be
Speaker:with and the teacher would move around who he thought would
Speaker:work best.
Speaker:So shout out to Mr.
Speaker:Slovakian. If you're listening to this,
Speaker:you did a great job.
Speaker:Perfect. Okay.
Speaker:And so tell us the makeup of your group.
Speaker:So there's another Rebecca record she has.
Speaker:And she's a senior,
Speaker:along with me.
Speaker:We have two juniors or three juniors.
Speaker:We have Lily Murphy,
Speaker:max Rayner,
Speaker:and Mar Diorio.
Speaker:So they will be taking over next year.
Speaker:Oh good.
Speaker:So you see a future for this too,
Speaker:which is awesome.
Speaker:Yes. And so while you are putting this together,
Speaker:how did that work?
Speaker:Cause this is going to be interesting,
Speaker:not only in terms of how a business develops,
Speaker:but you guys working as a team together to where you
Speaker:guys looking at lots of different types of business ideas,
Speaker:or did someone present one and you guys are all like,
Speaker:that's it Good?
Speaker:Initially we were starting off with like knife guards.
Speaker:We were really boring.
Speaker:We decided we would rather do something completely like really fun.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:just look at me wrong,
Speaker:but like we wanted to do something like fun and like
Speaker:sort of cool for high schoolers.
Speaker:So I guess art was like our main reason.
Speaker:Cause we always,
Speaker:we can do art.
Speaker:We're not artists that our group really.
Speaker:Oh, that's interesting.
Speaker:But you saw the opportunity you saw where it could really
Speaker:benefit. And so then you pulled together.
Speaker:So you had the concept,
Speaker:what happens next?
Speaker:What was your next step after just getting the concept?
Speaker:So after funding,
Speaker:it was more just getting the word out there because we
Speaker:were our little community of Barrington here,
Speaker:but we needed to spread our word.
Speaker:So we were just talking to other high schools,
Speaker:our departments and trying to get them involved along with us.
Speaker:And today we have seven high schools with us,
Speaker:Seven high schools.
Speaker:Perfect. But way back in the beginning,
Speaker:did you have to figure out how are we going to
Speaker:print on these shirts?
Speaker:Where are we going to get these shirts?
Speaker:There was much trial and error with us.
Speaker:Initially we were actually making the shirts ourselves cause we were
Speaker:high schoolers leaning to have a lot of money.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:like we got funded in may,
Speaker:but from August up till around may,
Speaker:we were making the shirts ourselves.
Speaker:So we bought ourselves a key pressed in one of our
Speaker:group members basement,
Speaker:just print it away.
Speaker:And then we are mailing them ourselves.
Speaker:You figured out a way of taking someone's art from the
Speaker:website, transferring it over then to be able to press on
Speaker:to the t-shirts.
Speaker:Yes. Now we do have funding.
Speaker:So we're able to go through a company and make things
Speaker:much easier on ourselves.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:So we're staying back with the heat press.
Speaker:Okay. So the heat press,
Speaker:you guys are doing it all yourself.
Speaker:And at that point,
Speaker:did you have seven high schools join in or were you
Speaker:still just your single high school at first?
Speaker:So at that point,
Speaker:I think we had around four high schools.
Speaker:So we've just gained three new ones recently.
Speaker:Okay. And when you were initially starting an order would come
Speaker:in and then how were you guys working within a team?
Speaker:Did you guys divide up into different people?
Speaker:Like certain people took orders,
Speaker:certain people produced the product,
Speaker:certain people shipped or how was your team organization for that?
Speaker:So like there was five of us last year.
Speaker:So I think one of us would order all the supplies.
Speaker:One of them will make the shirts and the other three
Speaker:of us will like drive out to people's houses and deliver
Speaker:them. Okay.
Speaker:And how does it work in terms of the pricing?
Speaker:So Is $20,
Speaker:which may seem high at first,
Speaker:but when you factor in that we're giving back to our
Speaker:departments and artists,
Speaker:it like is not as much actually.
Speaker:Right. When people know the cause and know the story,
Speaker:it'll justify the price all the time.
Speaker:Yeah. Then they're more open to the idea.
Speaker:Yeah. So you just built up your costs in terms of
Speaker:how much t-shirt was going to be all the different prices
Speaker:and then figured out also there was something significant enough to
Speaker:go to the art departments.
Speaker:And so then you went from there?
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:So now let's talk about presenting to possibly get funding because
Speaker:this is very similar to shark tank,
Speaker:right? Did you guys identify that this was an opportunity?
Speaker:Did it come through the school program or what happened with
Speaker:that? This is a school program.
Speaker:So initially what you're doing is there's five groups where each
Speaker:a business incubator class,
Speaker:and everybody has to give a pitch at the end of
Speaker:the year.
Speaker:Most people do of our grade because that's how you get
Speaker:grade in the class.
Speaker:But if your pitch is well enough,
Speaker:the investors will notice you.
Speaker:And there'll be a final pitch after that.
Speaker:So for the final pitch is just the top five groups.
Speaker:So we were one of those five groups that was able
Speaker:to pitch to them.
Speaker:And we were just lucky enough to get funded along with
Speaker:another group.
Speaker:So two groups were funded last year.
Speaker:Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker:Well, congratulations.
Speaker:That's so cool.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Let's talk about getting ready for a pitch because gift biz
Speaker:listeners, I'm also thinking this is kind of similar to when
Speaker:you're going out and getting corporate business or you're looking at
Speaker:having your product placed in a store or something.
Speaker:So let's talk Rebecca A.
Speaker:Little bit about how did you prepare then for the big
Speaker:pitch? We'll just jump right to that.
Speaker:So forget about pitching in your classroom.
Speaker:Cause that was a class project.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah,
Speaker:yeah. So now you're entering like the quote unquote big time.
Speaker:What did you do?
Speaker:How did you figure out what you needed to prepare for
Speaker:the pitch Outfits?
Speaker:I would say,
Speaker:be aware of what you're wearing like for us,
Speaker:for since we're t-shirts we got to wear t-shirts and we
Speaker:just had nice skirts on or whatever.
Speaker:So for your company to be what you're wearing and also
Speaker:you should be able to talk loud.
Speaker:Like I've been blessed with a loud voice where it doesn't
Speaker:sound like I'm ever whispering.
Speaker:So that worked in my favor.
Speaker:Cause you want to be able to show that you are
Speaker:competent in this.
Speaker:You don't want to seem scared.
Speaker:And I contact make eye contact with them.
Speaker:Cause they like that.
Speaker:This is good Rebecca.
Speaker:So what,
Speaker:in terms of content,
Speaker:how did you decide what your pitch was going to look
Speaker:like? So there was like certain criteria we needed.
Speaker:They gave you the criteria.
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:So like there was criteria,
Speaker:but you can change it.
Speaker:How you'd need it to change it.
Speaker:Financial wise,
Speaker:everybody needed to have certain financials,
Speaker:what they were like projected to be or what they thought
Speaker:they would be in five years,
Speaker:because that's important seeing if your company will last that long
Speaker:and you should have a plan after five years.
Speaker:Like our plan was to see if we can sell to
Speaker:another company,
Speaker:our idea eventually.
Speaker:So you want to have a plan in general,
Speaker:what you're doing in the future.
Speaker:They just want to see that.
Speaker:And so then you were financials was a growth plan for
Speaker:the most part?
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:Did you go in with any hook statement in the beginning
Speaker:or anything like that for your presentation?
Speaker:That was in may?
Speaker:I gotta think back,
Speaker:honestly, we probably just gave her some again.
Speaker:I'm not sure.
Speaker:Okay. So how did you prepare beforehand?
Speaker:I'm sure you were nervous,
Speaker:even though you said you got to speak loud and be
Speaker:confident and all of that did all five of you have
Speaker:a role.
Speaker:And did you practice together or how did that happen?
Speaker:So we all had a role and maybe it was just
Speaker:me. Like I was scared,
Speaker:but I wasn't as scared because like I said,
Speaker:we've been doing these presentations in class,
Speaker:but not like in front of the board,
Speaker:we are doing a presentation once a week and our teacher
Speaker:he's one of those teachers that like,
Speaker:he gets on your back,
Speaker:like 24 seven,
Speaker:like he's like,
Speaker:that's not correct.
Speaker:I need you to fix this.
Speaker:Now we felt like ready to speak.
Speaker:If that makes sense,
Speaker:there was preparation,
Speaker:but there wasn't a lot that we needed to practice 24
Speaker:seven because we felt good about it ourselves.
Speaker:Well, and you also used to speaking then too.
Speaker:Yeah. So work in our favor actually.
Speaker:Yeah, it was good.
Speaker:Yeah, For sure.
Speaker:You're right for the shout-out to the teacher,
Speaker:because that really did prepare you.
Speaker:Yeah. Really changed our lives.
Speaker:Yeah. Really seriously.
Speaker:Did you get to see the other people who pitched for
Speaker:the final?
Speaker:Yes. Cause you're sitting in the auditorium,
Speaker:you're just kind of going up and then sitting back down,
Speaker:listening to them and at the end they present.
Speaker:Oh, so you find out then in there who wins?
Speaker:Who the two are that win?
Speaker:Yes. It was definitely nerve wracking.
Speaker:Just waiting.
Speaker:I'm sure.
Speaker:Did you guys already register the company as a formal company
Speaker:at that point?
Speaker:No. We registered in the summer because it's like,
Speaker:after you get bonded,
Speaker:they invite you to a summer program to be in the
Speaker:year two class.
Speaker:So before going to the year,
Speaker:two class,
Speaker:you had to be part of the summer program.
Speaker:So that's what we did.
Speaker:All of our legal work and everything.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:So only the people who pass through and got funding then
Speaker:go on to the year two class.
Speaker:Yes. And if you really like a really good student in
Speaker:the one class,
Speaker:you can be hired into one of the other companies.
Speaker:Cause there's not just our company.
Speaker:There's a few other ones from the previous years who are
Speaker:just keep hiring students.
Speaker:Sure. And just like you said,
Speaker:you've got a few juniors who will be continuing on carrying
Speaker:on the torch for you guys,
Speaker:if you will.
Speaker:Yes. Perfect.
Speaker:So tell me,
Speaker:and you're going to be truthful,
Speaker:right? Rebecca,
Speaker:hopefully share with me some type of a challenging problem that
Speaker:you guys had to overcome to get to the point of
Speaker:funding or even after funding getting to where you are now.
Speaker:Oh, that's easy.
Speaker:I don't need to lie about that.
Speaker:We have the difficulties of marketing.
Speaker:That's simple enough for me to say weren't getting has always
Speaker:been something that we've struggled with,
Speaker:but we're working on it every day,
Speaker:all day.
Speaker:So marketing In what manner?
Speaker:So just like in general getting our word out there because
Speaker:people know us,
Speaker:but not as well.
Speaker:I feel like.
Speaker:So we're trying to be more consistent on social media and
Speaker:have scheduled posts and just scheduling more events.
Speaker:Cause there's a lot of events in town that we code
Speaker:and be a part of.
Speaker:So we're trying to get a part of those and just
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:Just little things that could help our company in a big
Speaker:way. Do you have an overall marketing plan?
Speaker:Alrighty. Have you guys worked on all that?
Speaker:Yes. We're working on one and we're also working with someone
Speaker:from Infinium marketing.
Speaker:We have connection there.
Speaker:So he's been helping get into other programs and like fixing
Speaker:around our website and seeing what he thinks needs to be
Speaker:changed. And he just gave me a suggestion.
Speaker:So we're thankful for that.
Speaker:Perfect. And building a business specially for you guys,
Speaker:it's just a step-by-step process.
Speaker:You learn one thing and then you perfect that then you
Speaker:go on,
Speaker:you do something else and et cetera.
Speaker:And the one thing that you guys did right in the
Speaker:beginning, which was so great is you showed that there was
Speaker:a market for the product because you were getting people buying
Speaker:these products and I'm thinking it was over and above just
Speaker:family and friends,
Speaker:right? Yes.
Speaker:I actually didn't tell my family about this because I wanted
Speaker:to see what I could do myself,
Speaker:because I didn't want them to buy any shirts.
Speaker:I want to see how many sales I can make myself
Speaker:with this company before I like told them if that makes
Speaker:sense, because I knew what my parents obviously buy a shirt
Speaker:because they want to support me.
Speaker:But I just wanted to see for myself how many I
Speaker:could do by myself.
Speaker:Are you talking about way in the beginning?
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Wait in the beginning,
Speaker:We're going to hear how Rebecca and her team did get
Speaker:the word out right after an announcement from our sponsor.
Speaker:This podcast is made possible.
Speaker:Thanks to the support at the ribbon print company,
Speaker:create custom ribbons right in your store or craft studio in
Speaker:seconds, visit the ribbon print company.com
Speaker:for more information,
Speaker:How were you getting the word out?
Speaker:Just yourself to prove the point?
Speaker:I'm sure we bothered a lot of people,
Speaker:but we sent out emails all the time.
Speaker:Eventually they had to respond back and they were interested emails.
Speaker:Yeah. That was our original way.
Speaker:Emails to who?
Speaker:Any one that was in high schools and just artists.
Speaker:So we will have like teachers recommend who they thought would
Speaker:be. Like they would think that they want to be a
Speaker:part of our company.
Speaker:Things like that.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:I would imagine by nature because you are promoting to artists
Speaker:that if they have their art,
Speaker:then on a t-shirt they're going to be telling all their
Speaker:friends, Oh my gosh,
Speaker:this company is producing.
Speaker:My art was selected and now it's on a t-shirt.
Speaker:Right. So I'm assuming naturally then business would come in back
Speaker:then. And even in the future business will come in that
Speaker:way. Yeah.
Speaker:It's great.
Speaker:It's great business model.
Speaker:Yeah, they do.
Speaker:They're really good about getting their word out.
Speaker:Some of them are a little shy about it because I
Speaker:don't know the,
Speaker:feel a little reserved about their art,
Speaker:but that's fine.
Speaker:But everybody has their way of getting their art out there.
Speaker:I feel like the way they do it.
Speaker:Yeah. You are also promoting the whole concept in total.
Speaker:So any artist that's a little shyer doesn't need to worry
Speaker:about. They could totally just tag us and we'll do it.
Speaker:Yeah. Talk to us a little bit about Facebook and how
Speaker:you're using Facebook right now.
Speaker:I get that it's a work in progress,
Speaker:but what are you doing now?
Speaker:Facebook completely is a work in progress at the moment.
Speaker:We had a restart our page,
Speaker:mostly because it just wasn't as organized as we want it
Speaker:to be.
Speaker:So we shut it down and we started up a new
Speaker:page and we're working on that.
Speaker:But our Instagram is more efficient at the moment.
Speaker:And we noticed a lot of like high schoolers actually use
Speaker:Facebook. So it works in our favor.
Speaker:But if we're talking to like our department heads,
Speaker:we have to like fix our Facebook up.
Speaker:Cause they're their main ones I use Facebook.
Speaker:What would you say in this will be good just for
Speaker:all of us to understand.
Speaker:What do you think was not as good with your first
Speaker:Facebook page?
Speaker:We just did impose as often.
Speaker:I've gone being honest and it sounds really bad when we
Speaker:forgot the password,
Speaker:you'll be fine.
Speaker:We're just going to restart a new one and we're working
Speaker:on making it more up to date and just cleaner looking.
Speaker:Cause their incident,
Speaker:we feel like it has a theme.
Speaker:We're just like constantly posting about other people and like what
Speaker:they feel about our company.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:You do bring up a good point.
Speaker:You say like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I don't want necessarily say,
Speaker:but I am quite sure that there are some people listening
Speaker:now who were like,
Speaker:yeah, that's kind of me too.
Speaker:Whether it's they don't have their password or they've just left
Speaker:the account dormant for awhile.
Speaker:Yeah. I also think it has to do with like our
Speaker:generation in general because our generation tends not to go towards
Speaker:Facebook. I feel like we look towards Instagram and Twitter.
Speaker:So those are something we just use more.
Speaker:Right. Why do you think I'm going to go to Instagram
Speaker:in a second,
Speaker:but why did you decide you needed to start another?
Speaker:Was it because you just didn't know the password so you
Speaker:could? Yeah,
Speaker:I think that's it.
Speaker:For the most part,
Speaker:I didn't really work on the Facebook page.
Speaker:Another one of my group members said,
Speaker:so I'm not sure that all the details,
Speaker:but I think that's what went down.
Speaker:Okay. So Instagram is going for you.
Speaker:Well, yes,
Speaker:you're using hashtags on Instagram and all that.
Speaker:I didn't actually look at the account before we started talking,
Speaker:so I don't know.
Speaker:Yeah, that's fine.
Speaker:Yeah. We use a few hashtags.
Speaker:Are you seen that?
Speaker:You've got any more of a following there now?
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:We noticed when we go to like big events,
Speaker:that's when we get our most views,
Speaker:I think a couple of weeks back,
Speaker:we went to the Illinois high school art expo and it
Speaker:was just a really big art event.
Speaker:And we got a ton of use about that and we
Speaker:were getting a lot of sales too from Chicago high.
Speaker:So that was great.
Speaker:Okay. So you could relate going to the event and then
Speaker:posting about the event and then just because of the timing
Speaker:of the way the sales were coming in,
Speaker:you could attribute that back to your Instagram.
Speaker:Yeah. Cause I feel like on those days,
Speaker:that's when we're talked about the most.
Speaker:So people are more likely to look us up.
Speaker:So they look us up and we get more views.
Speaker:We notice rather than if we just do a random post
Speaker:of teacher.
Speaker:So that's great.
Speaker:So you are going to event definitely post about it because
Speaker:you will get more views.
Speaker:Are you doing live also,
Speaker:you're doing like Instagram stories or Facebook live or any of
Speaker:that? Yes,
Speaker:We do do a few Instagram stories.
Speaker:Not as much because we've been working a lot in class
Speaker:rather than outside at the moment.
Speaker:But whenever we go to like events or we're just doing
Speaker:a little echo or something,
Speaker:we will definitely post about it on our stories And do
Speaker:behind the scenes things too.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I think some of your stuff,
Speaker:like in class,
Speaker:depending on what the school allows you to do,
Speaker:I guess not sure what the rules are of this.
Speaker:He doesn't really like,
Speaker:Oh, and sadly,
Speaker:so he thinks they're a distraction and that we should be
Speaker:working solely on our company.
Speaker:So that's good though.
Speaker:It does keep us on track.
Speaker:Oh, for sure.
Speaker:But one of the things that does work really well is
Speaker:for people to get to a peak of the behind the
Speaker:scene. Maybe it's even when you're on your way to events
Speaker:or you're delivering t-shirts or something like that too.
Speaker:People are curious.
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:totally. That's a good idea.
Speaker:It works really well because one thing is seeing the product
Speaker:and seeing you there,
Speaker:but like how has it made like website issues?
Speaker:Everyone's just curious about what's happening behind the scenes.
Speaker:So when you're doing the high school expo,
Speaker:is that kind of like,
Speaker:I would think of with a table set up and you've
Speaker:got your product there and you're just showing people and then
Speaker:if they want to take orders,
Speaker:you can take orders there too.
Speaker:Is that what the setup is there for an expo?
Speaker:So our most recent one was at the Zubie art center.
Speaker:So it was a huge art gallery and it was just,
Speaker:it was strictly art related and it was tables,
Speaker:but everybody kinda had their own section,
Speaker:if that makes sense.
Speaker:And it was really interesting because a lot of our people
Speaker:that were there were there for also an art show because
Speaker:they were invited and they were high schoolers.
Speaker:So there was a lot of people here.
Speaker:So it was great.
Speaker:We sold so many shirts.
Speaker:They were just totally interested in our idea.
Speaker:And it was just something that they hadn't heard of.
Speaker:So they were definitely interested in it.
Speaker:It was great.
Speaker:So it was mostly tables for the most part,
Speaker:They were coming to you and you had a designated area.
Speaker:So you had your product displayed and all of that.
Speaker:You had a right by the window.
Speaker:So we were lucky.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:You were lucky people like the windows,
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:Are there any learnings that you've had either interacting with people,
Speaker:how to deal with customers,
Speaker:how to take orders,
Speaker:things that you've learned just through trial and error of working
Speaker:a show,
Speaker:Don't be shy.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I personally I'm an extrovert,
Speaker:so it worked out so I'm very open to talking to
Speaker:people. So just like talk to them,
Speaker:don't be shy at all.
Speaker:And I don't know how to explain it.
Speaker:Look at their interests with their interests.
Speaker:If they look like they're interested in art,
Speaker:like for us,
Speaker:we immediately go and talk to them and they always reply
Speaker:back with it's okay.
Speaker:I don't want to do this or yeah,
Speaker:I'll totally do this.
Speaker:So there's no harm in asking.
Speaker:I'd be like,
Speaker:just always feel free to ask someone We're taking the initiative.
Speaker:Then you were just sitting back behind the table,
Speaker:waiting for people to come to you.
Speaker:You were looking to see if it looked like people were
Speaker:interested and then trying to engage them.
Speaker:Yeah. Like if I go to a booth,
Speaker:I realized I'm not going to ask a person a lot
Speaker:of questions personally.
Speaker:That's just not what I would do.
Speaker:So I figured just switch positions around.
Speaker:I'll be the person in the booth,
Speaker:asking the questions,
Speaker:see what happens,
Speaker:Five of you go to all the events.
Speaker:So you break it up or it Last year we did
Speaker:that this year.
Speaker:We're kind of switching it up.
Speaker:If someone's busy that day,
Speaker:it's fine.
Speaker:We can totally switch around rotations on who wants to go
Speaker:to why we're pretty open with that.
Speaker:Now I think last year everybody was kind of like,
Speaker:they were really into it.
Speaker:We never been to expos like this.
Speaker:So we were really confused.
Speaker:We wanted to learn more.
Speaker:Now we kind of have the hang of it and we're
Speaker:like, it's fine.
Speaker:We can totally switch it all rotations and all that.
Speaker:Oh, that's a good thing.
Speaker:Just for our listeners to hear too,
Speaker:is you walked into something that you really didn't know,
Speaker:but you still did it.
Speaker:You still went there and then you revise and perfect your
Speaker:processes. You go,
Speaker:and I'm guessing that of your team.
Speaker:Some people really like to interact with the public.
Speaker:Like it sounds like you do.
Speaker:And then other people like to take the backseat.
Speaker:Maybe they're the ones who like to work on the website
Speaker:or do the behind the scenes things.
Speaker:Do you see that within your team?
Speaker:We do separate jobs like that,
Speaker:but we're all actually very open,
Speaker:which I'm noticing now.
Speaker:That's actually,
Speaker:I never noticed that before we are very open as people
Speaker:we're not very closed off.
Speaker:That's good.
Speaker:I guess that's good.
Speaker:Yeah. What about what happens after a customer buys a t-shirt
Speaker:do you do anything to stay in touch with them in
Speaker:the future?
Speaker:Sure. So certain people we do,
Speaker:like for example,
Speaker:we're with Lincoln park high school and they submitted a ton
Speaker:of art to us for an art project that they were
Speaker:doing. So as a group,
Speaker:like there's like a giant mass email.
Speaker:We send out to them being like,
Speaker:okay, your art's on our website.
Speaker:Feel free to buy it and have like sell it to
Speaker:other people.
Speaker:And if they do,
Speaker:we're like,
Speaker:okay, good job with the selling,
Speaker:thank you for everything.
Speaker:And then we will continue to update them on what's happening
Speaker:with their project specifically.
Speaker:So like things like that,
Speaker:we do individual customers.
Speaker:We don't,
Speaker:but we have like,
Speaker:when you click on our website,
Speaker:it'll give you the option to be a part of our
Speaker:email list,
Speaker:which will then give you updates.
Speaker:So in a way we do,
Speaker:but personally we like,
Speaker:if we want to personally email someone,
Speaker:it will be probably in a mass email,
Speaker:something like Lincoln park,
Speaker:You are attracting the emails from people who have bought t-shirts
Speaker:from you or they have to initiate it.
Speaker:We typically initiate it.
Speaker:It's good that you do in that because so many people
Speaker:confuse getting emails because these are people who are familiar.
Speaker:They've been an artist you like in some way,
Speaker:they've linked with you.
Speaker:And lots of times people confuse that.
Speaker:Having emails with the following people have on social media,
Speaker:like who is looking at your Instagram account and all of
Speaker:that. And the problem with that is if Mark Zuckerberg decides
Speaker:to change the algorithm again on Facebook or your account gets
Speaker:shut down.
Speaker:For some reason,
Speaker:you have no way of contacting any of those people.
Speaker:So when you have emails,
Speaker:those are things that now red T owned.
Speaker:Those are ways to connect with people who have interacted with
Speaker:your business.
Speaker:So that's really valuable,
Speaker:way more valuable than however many followers you have on social
Speaker:media. So kudos to you because a lot of businesses don't
Speaker:think that way.
Speaker:So good job for you.
Speaker:Is there anything else that you can think back that you
Speaker:wish you would have done differently getting to the point that
Speaker:you guys are at right now?
Speaker:I feel like if I changed everything,
Speaker:everything would be different.
Speaker:I kind of like though everything is so I'm trying to
Speaker:think. I don't think there's much.
Speaker:I changed.
Speaker:I liked my group.
Speaker:I like the way we're working together.
Speaker:I feel like everything goes pretty well.
Speaker:But if you are working with a group,
Speaker:I just suggest that you get to know your group.
Speaker:So like you do like that.
Speaker:If you're working with some,
Speaker:you don't like,
Speaker:I feel like that would have worked out well.
Speaker:I'm thankful for that.
Speaker:I have a group that I like.
Speaker:I totally agree with that.
Speaker:The other thing that I really wanted to bring up,
Speaker:I forgot to do it.
Speaker:When you were mentioning earlier,
Speaker:did it feel weird to you that you were just building
Speaker:a business,
Speaker:but they were asking you for what your future plans were
Speaker:and you were already talking about selling it.
Speaker:Did that feel weird?
Speaker:It was a little weird because we didn't even have the
Speaker:company. We were talking about selling it.
Speaker:So in a way I was like,
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:But it was good research in my opinion.
Speaker:Cause it is something you had to think about because there
Speaker:are scenarios where that might have to happen,
Speaker:where you might have to sell.
Speaker:So I think it was a good chance to do some
Speaker:research on that and see what we should do.
Speaker:Have a game plan.
Speaker:Ready. Very good.
Speaker:We talk about that a lot too.
Speaker:You might never sell,
Speaker:but if you have any idea that you might,
Speaker:there are some things that you do when you get started
Speaker:that you might do just a little bit differently with the
Speaker:end game in mind that you might sell,
Speaker:like one of my businesses,
Speaker:I am setting up to sell down the road.
Speaker:And so my systems have to be different within my business.
Speaker:Right? Because I want that paperwork to be able to be
Speaker:tracked. I don't want to combine the two businesses together.
Speaker:The financials need to be different,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:just crazy things like that.
Speaker:Have you guys ever run into a situation where you've had
Speaker:an issue with a customer With a customer?
Speaker:I don't think we have,
Speaker:we have had issues with artists occasionally here and there where
Speaker:they were wondering why there are wasn't on our website,
Speaker:but usually if you're ours on our website,
Speaker:it's because there's a rubric about it being appropriate and things
Speaker:like that.
Speaker:So that's about it though.
Speaker:And it's nothing bad.
Speaker:Okay. All right.
Speaker:Well you're lucky then,
Speaker:because at some point you guys go on a long enough.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:just those things come up.
Speaker:So I was just curious so far Been at that thankfully
Speaker:So far,
Speaker:so good.
Speaker:Right? Yeah.
Speaker:Any advice for people now,
Speaker:this will be a little bit kind of different for you,
Speaker:Rebecca, of course,
Speaker:because you're still in school,
Speaker:but any advice just going through this whole process that you've
Speaker:done, maybe it's just how you feel about having red teas
Speaker:as a win under your belt.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:But is there anything that you would recommend or suggest to
Speaker:people who are just starting out in business?
Speaker:Yes. Don't be afraid to take risks,
Speaker:honestly. Like we were making these shirts in a basement.
Speaker:You can come from the bottom and end up somewhere like
Speaker:you from doing nothing like that.
Speaker:You can end up somewhere.
Speaker:So I feel like just take the risk,
Speaker:make the leap.
Speaker:It's no harm done.
Speaker:And what do you See as the future for red rentees
Speaker:Since it's still like young,
Speaker:the company in general,
Speaker:just make sales at this point.
Speaker:Little things like that.
Speaker:I just make a few sales here and there.
Speaker:I think that's it.
Speaker:We're not looking too far ahead.
Speaker:We're just looking a couple months.
Speaker:And at this point we're just taking it easy.
Speaker:Just continuing to Grow,
Speaker:continuing to grow the business,
Speaker:right? Yeah.
Speaker:We're trying to cruise through now.
Speaker:I would like to offer you to dare to dream.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:So Rebecca,
Speaker:this can either be about rad teas or this can be
Speaker:just you personally.
Speaker:I'm gonna let you choose on that one.
Speaker:Okay. Okay.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What's inside Your box.
Speaker:I think in the future,
Speaker:I would like to go into business.
Speaker:So I would like to be able to start my own
Speaker:business and just have it be successful.
Speaker:I think that's just like my one goal and hope.
Speaker:Wonderful. And what is next year?
Speaker:Hold for you college.
Speaker:Have you decided yet?
Speaker:Not yet.
Speaker:I have a few more months,
Speaker:but like I have some options.
Speaker:How are you going to be away from home?
Speaker:That's what I'm not sure about.
Speaker:Do I want to go somewhere and like Michigan or,
Speaker:and say yes.
Speaker:So I have a few months I'll decide then rad teas
Speaker:wise, I'll still try to stay involved of call as much
Speaker:as possible.
Speaker:See how my team members are doing It's you and Mark,
Speaker:who are both seniors right Now,
Speaker:Mark the junior.
Speaker:Me and there's another Rebecca.
Speaker:So Rebecca and Rebecca are seen two Rebecca's are off.
Speaker:Yes. And you guys could be like the board or something.
Speaker:Yeah. Like advisors Or consultants or something.
Speaker:Cause I'm sure this is now your baby.
Speaker:I'm sure.
Speaker:Just leaving.
Speaker:It would be terrible,
Speaker:especially since things are going so well.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we all have a portion of equity in the company,
Speaker:so just be hiring younger students to see what they're doing
Speaker:with it.
Speaker:So, I mean,
Speaker:it's great.
Speaker:We were still all involved,
Speaker:not as involved as we probably would like to be involved
Speaker:in a way.
Speaker:So thankfully wonderful.
Speaker:Well, this has been so interesting to hear from someone younger.
Speaker:So just your perspective on things is really interesting.
Speaker:You guys have some really solid business tactics down,
Speaker:which is great to hear and this whole idea of creating
Speaker:the businesses now within our high schools is fabulous.
Speaker:So I really appreciate you coming on,
Speaker:sharing all the information and taking some time out of your
Speaker:day for us and really appreciate it and all the best
Speaker:to you and everyone involved with red teas.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:This episode is all wrapped up,
Speaker:but fortunately,
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