How Businesses Bounce Back

Our regular listeners know this, but 2 Regular Guys are all about garment decorating, a bit of fun, and no rants or lectures or selling. We are not doing this for our employers, but rather for our industry. Since February 2013, The 2 Regular Guys have been the first and the most listened to garment decorating industry podcast on this planet! We are humbled by all of you tuning in each week. We work hard to bring you information that will make your business better, and our industry better. Take a look at our incredible weekly guest list and you’ll understand where this industry goes for news, interviews and the heartbeat of garment decorating. Thanks for listening!

News

• It’s official, DAX Chicago on August 7-8 is out for 2020. That will wrap up the DAX show season.Katie at NBM tells us their Cleveland show for September 25-26 is now canceled as well.

• From Mel Lay from AllMade Apparel during a panel discussion earlier this week. For anyone who doesn’t know, AllMade makes a tri-blend shirt in Haiti with a great story about living wages, environmentally friendly,  recycling water bottles, etc. She announced on the panel that AllMade will be introducing an organic 100% cotton shirt in 2021. It will be available from their new distribution partner SanMar.

  Dad Joke: What did the alien say to the gardener?

  Take me to your weeder.

How Businesses Bounce Back

Terry: Henry Ma is a business expert who has helped over 3,000 startups and established business owners in over 140 countries grow their decorated apparel businesses. And very recently Henry was promoted from COO to CEO at Ricoma. As the host of Apparel Academy, a show on Ricoma’s YouTube channel, he offers insights and strategies for people looking for success in the decorated apparel industry. His advice and tips reach a loyal community of over 100,000 subscribers on email, Facebook, and YouTube.

Aaron: Henry, today we’re talking about How Businesses Bounce Back after Covid 19 or any mass interruption in business. First, are we bouncing back now?

–Restrictions being lifted, businesses opening up

-Lots of businesses were started in the middle of a crisis, so there is potential to start your business or grow it by taking advantage of some of the positive repercussions like less competition.

Terry: As Aaron mentioned, we could be bouncing back from a variety of business setbacks. Is part of this (and I know the horse is out of the barn on this particular event)  being prepared in the first place?

-Should always have a safety net when it comes to savings when you have a business. 

-Owning a business is always a risk and must be prepared for the ups and downs of the market.

-Having a second form of revenue is always a good idea if you can manage it. Think about selling your own brand and not wait for custom orders.

Aaron: As we start to bounce back here, how can we both leverage and support our existing customer base?

-reach out to customers you’ve had in the past for repeat orders

-see if they like any new items relevant to the times- i.e. contact a business you created uniforms for and see if they’d like matching masks.

-reach out to existing customers for referrals to gain new customers. 

-upsell and offer bundles to new customers to increase revenue

Terry: I’ve seen some industry sources sharing your video advocating for starting a business post Covid 19; why do you think this is a good time to start an embroidery business?

-less competition

-lots more qualified people looking for jobs you can hire for less than you would normally. 

-drop in online marketing costs

Aaron: Do you have any predictions for how the apparel marketplace will change in the near future?

Terry: What types of things are you seeing from folks that are having success?

-They are leveraging the fact that they are a local business.

-Lost have experienced an increase in sales

-They are getting involved in the community, helping by donating masks and gaining exposure that way. 

Aaron: Henry, tell us a little about the upcoming DecoSummit.

-new location

-Bigger event

-COVID Safety precautions have been established by the hotel and will be enforced throughout the entire event.

Terry: What can attendees expect that will be different from last year?

-Including now screenprinting seminars

-New products to demo and see

-New ticketing system with classes tailored to individual’s experience level

Aaron: How can our listeners reach out to you?

-Follow us on IG/Facebook we always respond

-Subscribe to YT

-Join ECAM

-Learn more about ricoma at ricoma.com

-Learn more about DecoSummit at decosummit.com