What does it take to turn an idea into a successful business? Fiona Connor chats to business owners about the challenges and the successes.
"You know" was once a phrase used in a positive way by Joe Webb and a group of his friends to show support. He liked using it so much that one day in 2017 he got a mate to print it on a t-shirt.
Webb posted a picture of it on social media, and pretty quickly he found himself with a business.
With a double major in IT and business management, he jumped right in to creating something of his own, and now has a whole range of clothes under his label YOUKNOW.
Here he talks about the process behind getting a piece on a rack, the challenges he faced getting to market and what others can learn from his journey.
What did it take to get started?
It was a side hustle for the first year or two, I was working full time and also had a year overseas. I funded it out of my income, no investors. I did it this way as I had experience with other start ups and how investors would put pressure on them so I wanted it to be fully funded by myself even if that meant scaling slower. There was no chance I could have funded it without full time working and then doing extras on the side to fund this new venture.
How many designs did you start with and how did you go about getting your first line manufactured?
T-shirts quickly led to hoodies which are still our most popular item. In the first year or so I did the screen printing myself after work then dispatched them too. Then my partner Aïda and I went overseas as she had to finish her Masters and I worked for a year in the UK. We organised a NZ company to produce the product and dispatch it which kept the brand going. Then when we came back after a year working in business development I decided to commit full time to YOUKNOW.
What considerations do you have to give to entering the fashion industry?
We worked hard on getting the right styles/cuts and look and equally on finding the best partners to manufacture and fulfil. We are big on relationships and being really open and honest about what we are doing. Being new to the industry we had no experience or presumption about how things work so we just talked about what we wanted and have established some great partner relationships based on trust and honesty. Our ranges and fabrics evolve and iterate, we spend a great deal of time trialling and testing what will work.
A big part of YOUKNOW is the community — which means we had to cater to all shapes and sizes and did not want to make a product in which people felt they could not wear. Our mantra is Confident, Comfortable & Community Driven which essentially means that we want you to feel confident and comfortable in our garments no matter what age, gender or race you are.
Tell me about the process you go through before a piece is on a rack?
We have a very collaborative process. My partner (and business partner) Aïda Amoozegar Montero and Stan Walker led the creative process but we involve many within our YOUKNOW family to assist us. We have designers and creative directors involved who add to our thinking.
Not many people know but I am colour blind which means I need all the help I can get and also tend to leave the colours to Aïda and Stan.
You've been really creative with branding, tell me about some of the marketing components you've embarked on?
Social media is a critical channel for us with use of most platforms. We partner with many different people who are active online and from diverse backgrounds. Creating an online narrative is critical to allow our customers and the broader target communities to engage with YOUKNOW. We also find being a relatable brand has worked for us — we aren't trying to be someone we are not and I feel like that comes across in the content.
Apart from advertising and having our online store we invest heavily in brand content with a variety of stories and one off content such as going to the UFC in NYC and interviewing people in Time Square New York.
We have also created YOUKNOW MEDIA which is part of reimagining online audio broadcasting, with The Morning Shift as our first offering.
How important is it for a business to have values and what are some of yours?
Some of our main core values are integrity, customer focus, innovation and team work.
Integrity is especially massive for us as we want to be honest and ethical in all business dealings, and doing what's right even when no one is watching.
These core values are critical to the YK Team and YOUKNOW reflect this. Our objective is to always operate with transparency and honesty at our core. With our staff, partners and customers.
What were some challenges as you went to market and how did you navigate them?
Understanding how the industry operates, from supply, importing, distribution to stock and financial management. Our approach has been to ask for help and not act with any arrogance pretending that we knew more than we did.
One of the first challenges which I understood and turned into a positive would be establishing YOUKNOW's brand identity. Because having a clothing brand is a very saturated market establishing our brand identity early was crucial and not trying to be too cool or trendy but staying relatable as possible was key in our early days. Aïda and Stan do a really good job of making sure that YOUKNOW's brand identity reflects in the garments.
How do you expand while juggling turnover and profit, staffing and facilities?
Our growth since Aïda and I committed full time has been exponential. We realised we had a number of constraints that we needed to deal with to support serious growth. Capacity was a major challenge, a real risk was creating enormous demand and not being able to meet it. We took some serious risks in committing to warehousing and massive stock orders. We found some key operational leaders who could work with us and have a group of professional advisers, lawyers, financial, business and accounting people who support us with their knowledge, expertise and guidance. Growing the business is exciting as we can't wait to see how far it can go, we love the environment and the creative process. It's really hard work but rewarding.
What are some of the biggest lessons that others can learn from?
Committing to anything gives you the best chance of success, you can't be half baked and expect a good cake. Honesty and transparency is fundamental, success is based on trusted relationships again in whatever you do, never compromise those values because even if the other party doesn't know, you do and it will eat away at you. Expect to work really hard all the time.
Another one would be to work smart not hard — which is super cliché. For example, you see people on TikTok and social media outlets talking about working 70-hour weeks and running themselves into the ground — and, I agree, you have to put in the extra hours in. But don't let this stop yourself from going out with mates to have dinner and a few beers. People forget that your mates and community are the ones that are there for you and if you are at home and not seeing them, they may forget about you.
Also, be aware of becoming arrogant and only ever talking about what you do, you may be consumed by it but others aren't — in fact, make a point not to. Always think about the next thing and look at diversifying as much as possible without losing focus. Keep a broad network to stay in touch and if you keep thinking about a business idea or career path — do it.
The worst that can happen is it fails and you go back to your 9-5.
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