Spinoff: I use to own a small storefront for 3 years, Ask me whatever:

[Booker T Garvey]

@thatdude901 did you make any money overall? Or did everything go back to paying off the loan. How much was the loan?

the loan was laughable like 15k or 20K, not even enough to get a commercial.

and no. i don't think we really made ANY money to be honest with you.

somebody once told me that we were "in the black" because we eventually paid the loan back i think in a year and a half

but all of that shyt went back into supply costs and rent after that

 

[Clayton Endicott]

that's one of the reasons I wanted to shut it down man, it got like that.
then I put a few of my little league teammates on T-shirts man
and then dudes that would come in and do repeat business w/us we'd end up putting THEM on shirts too!!
shyt got deep man

 

[Booker T Garvey]

Looking back what do you think the reason the business failed?

A) as i said before, shopping malls in general just lost popularity. big ass stores were closing around us that generated a lot of foot traffic...that's something that I don't think anybody actually plans for. It's crazy that we even lasted out there for longer than 5 months

B) BAD BUSINESS. we just did bad business...I left the store after about a year and a half and would go in there on my days off (from my real job) and I was essentially saving the muthafukka. you can't do ghetto shyt and expect your store to survive; my employee would do dumb shyt like open the store at NOON when we were suppose to open at 9 am. people would be waiting with their t-shirts in bags and their photos in hand...that's just bad and dumb business.

C) We didn't know WTF we were doing. I use to be a wiz kid on photoshop (not anymore) - and I would design logos for people sometimes; not put their logos on shyt, i was DESIGNING them. I didn't know how to charge for that shyt...

 

[Orbital-Fetus]

man....i got stories for days.

motherfukking days.

 

[Booker T Garvey]

Some quick stories that come to mind about dealing with customers:

1) One time a dude came in and threw about 3,000 dollars in cash on my counter, and said "DAMN YALL RUNNIN' ANY DIIIILLS!?"
I was so tired of **US** coming in and asking for deals and hook ups, I just said: "you just threw more money on this counter than I have in my register!! I've gotta pay overhead, bills, keep these lights on..cmon man!! - he laughed and said "i fee you!" and just paid for the shyt...but still, DAMN!!

2) I NEVER HAD PROBLEMS WITH WHITE CUSTOMERS. EVER. NEVER. NOT ONCE. <<< i hate to even TYPE this. but it's the truth. One time a white dude with a rebel flag hat on and a cut off t-shirt that sounded exactly like jeff foxxworthy came in to get a Michael Jackson shirt made for his son...crazy.

3) Mexican/Hispanic customers ALWAYS wanted names or numbers put on soccer uniforms, nothing else. everything to do w/Soccer.

4) Middle Easterners never came in. they didn't even LOOK in our shyt.

5) Soulja Boy and Arab came in my store once to look around but this was back when he was just huge on myspace and hadn't blown up yet - he caused a slight ruckus but nothing major.

 

[Booker T Garvey]

man....i got stories for days.

motherfukking days.

bruh....share them PLEASE!!!

 

[Responsible Allen Iverson]

Was the store in Tennessee?

 

[newworldafro]

What's your thoughts on wearable tech or digital clothing OP? You think this is something a small business owner in this field should get hip to?

Special Cloth: Silicon Valley Fashion Week

 

[Booker T Garvey]

Was the store in Tennessee?

Middle Georgia

What's your thoughts on wearable tech or digital clothing OP?

Special Cloth: Silicon Valley Fashion Week

I don't see working class everyday people wearing this shyt

i'd stay away until you start to see multiple celebrities and athletes rocking the shyt.

 

[O YOU MAD BRA]

- it was EASY AS fukk TO GET THAT LOAN. we didn't even have a business plan

I know places will overlook insufficient collateral, but no business plan?


Where u get that loan from and how much was it ?

U said you was a broke student starting the business but broke is relative...So how much bread did you have saved up goin in? Did you have any other flows of income in that 3 years ?

 

[Booker T Garvey]

I know places will overlook insufficient collateral, but no business plan?


Where u get that loan from and how much was it ?

U said you was a broke student starting the business but broke is relative...So how much bread did you have saved up goin in? Did you have any other flows of income in that 3 years ?

- man I went and bought Business Plan Pro and everything; they didn't even care to see it what I put together

We got the loan at this little seminar/meeting place man, no bank or anything needed.

it was like they were desperate to give these loans to a bunch of minorities and women; I ended up seeing a cat that I knew in there and he opened up car

detailing spot with his loan; I don't think it lasted for long. I think we all got the same amount of $$$$ (15-20k) - that's really low for a business.

I went in on the business with multiple people; even though my name was on the business as an owner, I didn't put up shyt. all i had was credit card debt and a cell phone bill at the time.

 

[Responsible Allen Iverson]

4) Middle Easterners never came in. they didn't even LOOK in our shyt.

5) Soulja Boy and Arab came in my store once to look around but this was back when he was just huge on myspace and hadn't blown up yet - he caused a slight ruckus but nothing major.

So Arab was the only Arab who ever visited the store?

 

[Responsible Allen Iverson]

- man I went and bought Business Plan Pro and everything; they didn't even care to see it what I put together

We got the loan at this little seminar/meeting place man, no bank or anything needed.

it was like they were desperate to give these loans to a bunch of minorities and women; I ended up seeing a cat that I knew in there and he opened up car

detailing spot with his loan; I don't think it lasted for long. I think we all got the same amount of $$$$ (15-20k) - that's really low for a business.

I went in on the business with multiple people; even though my name was on the business as an owner, I didn't put up shyt. all i had was credit card debt and a cell phone bill at the time.

Do you think it was some organization that had a quota for the number of loans for minorities and women?

 

[Booker T Garvey]

So Arab was the only Arab who ever visited the store?

technically yeah, if that dude really is arab

Do you think it was some organization that had a quota for the number of loans for minorities and women?

- yup. I sure damn do. after we opened up a few of the local black low level politicians wanted photo ops and a ribbon cutting ceremony

we said no b/c it was overkill for that little shyt we had...i think it was all connected, people wanted to polish their resume's and look good

 

[Responsible Allen Iverson]

Was this located in a "Black Mall?"

And what would you estimate were the percentages of customers who were Black, White, Hispanic, etc.?