Raiz Apparel was described as a self-started project mixed with hard work and entrepreneur mindset.
Dominguez has utilized the internet and edgy photography aimed at a specific demographic as a selling and marketing platform for their clothing line with a website hosted by Square Space, along with Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube and other online media accounts.
Behind The Scenes
TRANSCRIPT
EPISODE 77
[INTRODUCTION]
[0:00:07.5] TB: Welcome to Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy. Be sure to stay tuned till the end of the show to hear how you can get a copy of this program and other helpful documents.
Now, it's time for Kerry McCoy to get all up in your business.
[INTERVIEW]
[0:00:20.4] KM: Thank you, Tim. I’m Kerry McCoy, and like Tim said, it’s time for me to get up in your business. Before we start, I’d like to introduce the people at the table. We have, who you just heard from, Tim Bowen, our technician, who will be taking your calls and pushing the buttons. Say hello, Tim.
[0:00:35.3] TB: Hello, Tim.
[0:00:36.6] KM: And recording our show to make a podcast available next week is our technician, Jessie. Thank you, Jessie.
[0:00:42.3] Jessie: No problem.
[0:00:43.3] KM: This show, Up In Your Business, with me, Kerry McCoy, began with entrepreneurs in mind, a platform for me, a small business owner and a guest to pay forward our experiential knowledge in a conversational way. As with all new endeavors, it has had some unexpected outcomes, like the show is not just for entrepreneurs and want to be entrepreneurs, but for everyone. We are all inspired by everyday people’s American-made stories of how they worked hard, took risk and found their voice.
Another is that business is creative more so than I ever thought, and our guest today, Maxi, is super creative with what he’s done with his business. I was going to say my guest today is plural because I said on an email saying that we were going to have two guests and that we were going to do something that we’d never done before. This would be the first time we’ve ever had returning guest from an earlier show.
So a few months ago, I had Maxi on. Actually, it was more than a few months ago. It was December of 2016.
[0:01:47.5] MD: It’s like a year and three months.
[0:01:48.9] KM: Yeah. That’s how long ago you were on. You had been in business for maybe a year. You’re really starting to find your voice, your creativity, and thanks for going really well for you. Then today you’re going to come back and tell us how the past year has been, and I have to give a shout out to Tim, because that was Tim’s idea.
[0:02:06.3] TB: That’s right. Thank you.
[0:02:06.9] KM: You’re welcome. So we were going to also have on Corey Boelkens. If anybody got our e-blast earlier today, we were going to have Cory Boelkens on from RaftUp. He also was a startup company that came on and talked to us — Let’s see. It would have been February of 2017. So it’s been one year since he was on. But I just got an email from him. He’s running behind. He may not make it to the show today, so we’ll book again with him.
What I do want to do is with this brave entrepreneur I have here, Maxi Dominguez from — Say it again.
[0:02:40.4] MD: Raiz Apparel.
[0:02:41.8] KM: Raiz Apparel. We’re going to find out what his past year has been like, and like a Clint Eastwood movie, we’re going to hear the good, the bad and the ugly.
[0:02:51.3] MD: Mm-hmm. Raw, straight raw.
[0:02:53.6] KM: You put that on one of your shirt. If you’re just tuning in for the first time, you may be asking yourself, “What’s this lady’s story and why does she have a radio show?” Well, Tim, is here to tell you.
[0:03:08.1]TB: Thank you, Kerry. Over 40 years ago with only $400, Kerry McCoy founded Arkansas Flag & Banner. During the last four decades, the business has grown and changed dramatically, from door-to-door sales, to telemarketing, to mail order and catalog sales, and now Flag & Banner relies heavily on the internet, including our newest feature, live chatting.
Each decade required a change in sales strategy and procedures. Her business and leadership knowledge grew with time and experience as well as the confidence to branch out into multimedia marketing that began with our nonprofit; Dreamland Ballroom, as well as our in-house publication; Brave Magazine, and now this very radio show that you’re listening to right now.
Each week on the show you’ll hear candid conversations between her and our guests about real-world experiences on a variety of businesses and topics we hope you’ll find interesting. Kerry says that many business rules, like treat your employees well, know your profit margin and have a succession plan can be applied across most industries.
What I find encouraging is that her example of hard work pays off. Did you know that for nine years while started Flag & Banner, she supplemented her income with many part-time jobs? And that just shows that persistence, perseverance and patience prevail. Today, Flag & Banner has 10 departments and I have 25 coworkers. It reminds us all that small businesses are the fuel of our country’s economic engine and that they empower people’s lives. If you’d like to ask Kerry a question or share your experience or story, you can send an email to questions@upyourbusiness.org.
[0:04:47.7] KM: We’ve invited back a previous guest, entrepreneur, Maxi Dominguez of Raiz Apparel. Did I say it wrong?
[0:04:57.0] MD: You’re so close. You’re so close.
[0:04:58.8] KM: What is with me in words? Say it again.
[0:05:01.9] MD: Raiz.
[0:05:03.0] KM: Why don’t you spell it that way?
[0:05:05.7] MD: I’m actually working on a marketing plan to get people to be able to pronounce it correctly. I know it’s a really hard word to pick up.
[0:05:13.1] KM: It’s Spanish, isn’t it?
[0:05:14.0] MD: Right.
[0:05:14.8] KM: What does it mean?
[0:05:15.5] MD: A root and/or origin.
[0:05:17.3] KM: Root.
[0:05:17.9] MD: And/or origin. It has like two separate meanings, but I usually just tell people root, because it had like a whole metaphor behind it.
[0:05:26.9] KM: Raiz. I’m going to get it from now on. Maxi Dominguez from Raiz Apparel, which aired his show on Up In Your Business with me, aired on December of 2016. Today we’re going to get an update on how it’s been since we last talk, because I haven’t seen you.
[0:05:41.5] MD: Yeah, it’s been a while.
[0:05:43.6] KM: Maxi is the founder and the designer behind the Raiz Apparel, a trending clothing line with edgy photography of models wearing his casual wear that has sassy sayings like; shred it, true love, mercy, or mercy, and you’ve probably got some more you can tell us about. Maxi found his sales channels to be social media, band shows, and his favorite, the skater culture. Hence the term; shred it. It is a pleasure to welcome to the table one of my early on interviews on UIYB, Mr. Maxi Dominguez.
[0:06:18.4] MD: Hello. Hello.
[0:06:20.4] KM: So how’s it been?
[0:06:21.7] MD: It’s been great. I’ve just been staying busy. This past year has honestly been probably one of the best years I’ve experienced in my 20s. Yeah, really, no complaints. Just a bunch of good things. Maybe a few struggles here and there.
[0:06:37.6] KM: You know, Mark Abernathy was on last week and he talked about how it’s the struggles that make you the better business people and that you learn the most there, and I want to hear what those struggles have been. What’s the first question I want to ask you is would you do it again?
[0:06:52.0] MD: Oh! Yeah, definitely. No question.
[0:06:54.1] KM: It sounds like it. Was it harder than you originally thought?
[0:06:56.6] MD: A lot harder. I thought it was just going to be honestly fun and games, and as I grew older in every year, I just realized it got harder and harder. I love it though. I love it. It pushes me. It makes me a better answer and I won’t have it any other way.
[0:07:12.7] KM: So I want to tell everybody that when I met you you came with the president of Pulaski Tech. What was her name? Oh my gosh! I should know this.
[0:07:25.6] MD: I should. We all should.
[0:07:27.2] KM: I know. I can’t believe. It’s just slipped my mind. But she spoke really well of you and she wanted you to — You were one of her favorite students at Pulaski Tech. You took entrepreneurs classes out at her school and she was hoping that you would go out and get your feet wet and then come back to school. Did you ever come back to school?
[0:07:46.9] MD: I haven’t yet, but it’s definitely in my agenda. Like I said, this past year has been a very big year for me in terms of development and growth, and sometimes you just have to put things — Categorize things. Right now I feel like I’m at a place where I can’t give school my all, so I really feel like I need to focus on my business ventures and just solely focus on that.
[0:08:12.5] KM: Tell our listeners what your business is. I kind of gave them an overview of what it is, but kind of tell our listeners what’s your view —
[0:08:20.1] MD: It’s a fashion label. It’s called Raiz Apparel. It was actually started in 2013. It started as a DIY project. Just something, more of a creative outlet that I kind of just stumbled upon. My niece, Maggie, she was sewing at the time. She was kind of getting her feet wet with fashion, and I kind of just picked up on that. It was an idea that developed itself into a business, honestly.
[0:08:49.6] KM: Do you sew?
[0:08:50.6] MD: Yes. Yes, I do.
[0:08:52.6] KM: You’re putting your fashion designs. You’re mostly screen printing on already purchased t-shirts, right?
[0:08:58.7] MD: Right. What’s funny is it actually started just as sewing. No screen printing involved at the beginning.
[0:09:07.5] KM: I thought you bought finished goods, like already finished hats and already finished t-shirts.
[0:09:10.8] MD: Yeah. Now I’m at the point where I just kind of — I wholesale garments, and I purchase wholesale garments and then just embellish them into what my vision is.
[0:09:22.6] KM: When you first started sewing, what were you sewing if you’re buying already —
[0:09:26.5] MD: I actually started with pocket t-shirts. In 2013 in the fashion industry, this whole new trend of pocket t’s came out of nowhere and it was a hit. It was a huge, huge hit. It was just simple colored t-shirts with a small square that had a print on it. I saw that and I saw potential in it, and I thought to myself how hard it is to just sew three straight lines. My niece, she was sewing at the time. I told her, “Hey, teach me how to sew a straight line. That’s all I need to know.” She taught me how to sew a straight line, and I picked on that idea like, “Hey, I’m going to go buy some print, put it on a t-shirt and see what I can do with it.”
[0:10:11.8] KM: The pockets that you were buying are already made t-shirts. You’re buying a printed material and you’re just sewing a printed pocket on to a shirt.
[0:10:19.4] MD: Yup! I would just go to Walmart, buy a t-shirt, or Hobby Lobby. I’d go to Hobby Lobby or JOANN’s, pick up some fabric, and with a little bit of help with YouTube I was able to sew my first pocket t-shirt.
[0:10:33.1] KM: Were they just solid colored fabric or were you putting words on them already on the pocket?
[0:10:36.4] MD: They weren’t solid colored fabrics. They had prints on them. Whether it’d be like [inaudible 0:10:41.5] or tie die.
[0:10:43.7] KM: How do you know that was popular?
[0:10:45.4] MD: I guess just at that time being 17, 18 years old, I kind of was heavily involved with the culture that made me who I am today.
[0:10:54.9] KM: What culture is that?
[0:10:55.6] MD: Which is the skateboarding culture more or less. It’s kind of — It’s given me, I guess, the characteristics of who I am today. Yeah.
[0:11:05.0] KM: That’s probably not a very — Well, maybe it is. I was going to say it’s probably not a segment that’s marketed too much, but maybe it is.
[0:11:14.1] MD: Over the years the industry and the market has actually — In terms of fashion, has really focused on the skateboarding culture. If you look at the trends in fashion, a lot of it has picked up from simple the culture of skateboarding, the way that skateboarders dress, the graphics that they put on to it. You see some, honestly, some very high fashion labels now replicate that. What’s funny is the skateboarding culture was never out to be a fashion, be fashion enthusiasts or anything. We were just kids. We want to skateboard every day maybe with a little bit of like a rebellious attitude, and it caught people’s attention, not just everyday people, but people, professionals, businesses, they caught on to that and they saw how marketable it was, how much influence the skateboarding culture had that now here we’re on 2018 where fashion is mainly driven by that culture.
[0:12:15.9] KM: You’re mainstream. You probably don’t like. The skaters have become mainstream.
[0:12:20.3] MD: You’re right. It has become a mainstream and we hate it.
[0:12:26.3] KM: I think this is a great place to take a break. When we come back we’ll continue our conversation with Maxi Dominguez of the trendy casual wear, Raiz Apparel. I want to take this next segment where we dig deep into what the first few years of your business have been like, what you did right, what was unexpected and maybe what you could have changed if you would have changed anything at all. At the bottom of the hour we’ll be taking calls. So listen and get your questions ready.
[0:12:55.2] TB: You’re listening to Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy. If you miss any part of the show, a podcast will be made available next week at flagandbanner.com’s website. If you prefer to listen on iTunes, YouTube or SoundCloud, you’ll find those links there as well. Lots of listening options. We’ll be right back.
[0:13:41.9] KM: You’re listening to Up in Your Business with me, Kerry McCoy. I’m speaking today with Maxi Dominguez, founder of Raiz Apparel in Little Rock, Arkansas. You said — Now, for anybody that’s just tuning in, Maxi was a guest of mine in December of 2016. He’s been in business since he was 18. He’s — What? 22 now?
[0:14:00.5] MD: 24.
[0:14:02.1] KM: Oh! 24 now.
[0:14:04.9] MD: My adventure started at 18.
[0:14:06.7] KM: He got his first idea at 18.
[0:14:07.8] MD: Yeah, there we go.
[0:14:09.9] KM: So we’re going to — I haven’t talked to him in a year and three months, so we’re going to catch up and find out what his year has like, see how he’s matured and grown and what the struggles of being — You said that you had a lot of development and growth in the last segment and some struggles. Give me an example.
[0:14:27.9] MD: Well, I guess a development of mine was that I finally took things from a creative aspect into a business aspect, and I think that was one of my biggest stepping stones with my business. I mean, like I said, it all started as just an idea, a project more or less, and now I see it as a career. I see it as the way I make a living. At the core of it all, it’s still a canvas for me where I can express myself and I can put my passion into something and be proud of what I do every day. Yeah, I’d say that was my biggest stepping stone, just taking it, learning to take things from just an idea to a business. How can I profit from this? How can I make a career more or less out of it?
[0:15:22.9] KM: That dirty word, profit, always gets in the way. It’s like, “I wish I didn’t have to make a living that I could just do what I wanted to do and I have to worry about money.” But do you have employees now?
[0:15:33.5] MD: Yeah. I don’t like calling them employees. I like calling more of a team.
[0:15:39.5] KM: That’s what you said a year and a half ago. I remember that.
[0:15:41.7] MD: And it’s always going to be that way. My vision can only be real with the ones that are next to me at all time without anybody who works with me. It wouldn’t happen.
[0:15:54.0] KM: Who is on your team?
[0:15:55.0] MD: So I have, for example, a graphic designer. His name is Andrew. What’s really cool is like he doesn’t even live here. He lives in Cincinnati, and he’s been with us for about — Let’s say about 6 to 8 months now, and what he does is he just pretty much perfects all the ideas I have. I’m an amateur graphic designer, but that’s what he does for a living. So being able to have somebody like him on the team really makes my ideas perfect.
[0:16:27.4] KM: Pop.
[0:16:28.0] MD: Yeah, it makes it pop. He throws in his two cents. That really takes my ideas sometimes to the next level, or sometimes I have a rough sketch or something in my head that I just can’t fully put it on to paper or on screen or whatever, and he helps me with that.
[0:16:45.6] KM: How did you hook up with him? Is he a skater or did you find him online?
[0:16:48.6] MD: Networking. It’s just networking through the early stages of the brand. He saw the potential in it and he actually just kind of started reaching out. He was a big supporter of the brand even in its early stages.
[0:17:02.3] KM: Is he a skater?
[0:17:03.3] MD: No. He’s just a graphic designer.
[0:17:05.2] KM: But he likes the brand.
[0:17:06.5] MD: Yeah. You don’t have to be a skater to like the brand. There’s a lot of meaning behind the brand, and I think that’s something that really pulls people in.
[0:17:14.3] KM: Your new one that I saw online, your new slogan. I love it. What is it?
[0:17:16.9] MD: True love.
[0:17:18.2] KM: True love. Who doesn’t love that?
[0:17:20.7] MD: Yeah. That’s one of the collections honestly I’m most proud of, and I always say that about the newest collection I come out with. But this one in particular was one that I had a lot of fun putting together just because I feel like I was able to put a lot of heart in it.
[0:17:37.9] KM: How many collections have you done?
[0:17:40.0] MD: Right now I think I’m up to four or five. I think four.
[0:17:46.8] KM: When I saw you a year and a half ago, you were wearing a t-shirt that said, “Shred it.”
[0:17:50.4] MD: Yeah. That was actually my first collection. My first official collection, and it was called [inaudible 0:17:56.6].
[0:17:58.4] KM: I think that’s kind of true. Then the next one was —
[0:18:02.3] MD: The next one was called forever wicked.
[0:18:06.0] KM: I love that one.
[0:18:08.2] MD: That one definitely had more of an edge to it. It definitely made people question a lot of the graphics that we used, a lot of the —
[0:18:14.6] KM: What were the graphics?
[0:18:15.8] MD: I mean, one was like we had a shirt that we call the Temptation T-shirt, and it said live by sin on the front, and on the back it had a girl — The face of a girl who’s smoking her cigarette with her hand, and people just — It makes them take a second look.
[0:18:34.3] KM: It reminded me of — I saw it on your website. It reminded me of the Virginia Swim commercials when I was growing up. They always made that girl look so hot and sexy smoking her cigarettes, and she wanted to do that.
[0:18:46.3] MD: That’s perfect. I love that. Maybe I need to look at that video and take some inspo from it.
[0:18:51.4] KM: Then what was the next one?
[0:18:52.7] MD: What was it?
[0:18:54.2] KM: You’ve got something with roses all over.
[0:18:56.6] MD: Most of my collections honestly have roses —
[0:18:58.5] KM: You’ve got roses all over you. People can’t see, but you’re tattooed in them and your girlfriend is too.
[0:19:03.8] MD: I have tattoos everywhere and they always will have roses. I love roses.
[0:19:07.8] KM: When you’re talking about sin, I bet you’re a Catholic.
[0:19:11.4] MD: I was born into the Catholic church.
[0:19:12.7] KM: I can tell. I bet you’re from Argentina, right?
[0:19:15.1] MD: Mm-hmm.
[0:19:15.5] KM: What did your mother think about that?
[0:19:17.2] MD: Oh! What? That I was —
[0:19:18.7] KM: No. That you’ve got a t-shirt that says born to sin, or live by sin.
[0:19:22.0] MD: At first, when I started, she definitely was like, “What is going on?” Like, “Why are you putting these things on t-shirts? Tell me.” After I kind of gave her my views on it, she took —
[0:19:35.6] KM: What is that view on it?
[0:19:36.9] MD: What? The live by sin thing? It’s more of a — I’m not telling people to sin, but I’m telling people to embrace sin. I feel and believe that in our existence, sin is an inevitable thing. We all sin whether you want to or not, whether you’re religious or not, you’re still going to sin at the end of the day. I think we hold ourselves back by trying to live this false reality that we don’t sin, that we don’t do bad. I feel like there’s a lot of empowerment in the idea of embracing it. When you can embrace something like that, you can develop as a person from it. It’s like it’s breaking barriers, mental barriers I feel like. I was able to do it and I feel like it definitely developed me as a person. I don’t know. It’s all about opening your mind.
[0:20:35.8] KM: Releasing the shame.
[0:20:37.3] MD: Mm-hmm. Exactly.
[0:20:39.0] KM: No wonder I like you. Really though, I do think people are embarrassed by their sin.
[0:20:45.8] MD: Yeah.
[0:20:46.2] KM: And when you just think all everybody does, just learn from it, go on, or whatever.
[0:20:51.1] MD: Right.
[0:20:51.5] KM: I love the way you said that too. All right. So then we’ve got another one.
[0:20:56.3] MD: What was it?
[0:20:57.0] KM: Hold it. I can almost think of it. I just looked at your website. Love —
[0:21:01.9] MD: Mercy.
[0:21:02.0] KM: Mercy. How could I not remember that one? That one is awesome too. Okay. Tell us how —
[0:21:07.0] MD: It had a lot of powerful imagery. What’s really cool about the mercy collection, it was actually a collaboration with Andrew, the guy from Cincinnati.
[0:21:16.8] KM: The graphic artist.
[0:21:17.5] MD: Right, and he actually kind of has — He doesn’t have a brand, but he brands himself as a certain entity. He goes by never leave, and I fell in love with his art style. It’s really dark. It’s all black and white, but powerful. It’s a powerful imagery, and him and I got together and we did this collaboration for the mercy collection. After that, we had so much doing it and worked so well together. That’s when he decided like he wanted to me more involved with the brand, and we brought him on to the team.
[0:21:52.4] KM: Another person on your team is a photographer, and an excellent photographer I must say. I love the photographs.
[0:22:00.4] MD: Yeah, and what’s cool is this past year we’ve collaborated with a lot of other photographers and with other creatives and that’s something that’s very important to Raiz. We have a vision, but I strongly believe that through collaboration and working with other people who are creative, you’re able to build on your vision and you’re able to expand your mind, your creativity. Honestly you never know. You never know where you can go when you meet certain people, when you work with certain people. I know I’ve personally developed from working with many, many other creative people.
[0:22:39.2] KM: I love one of them. There’s a guy on your website, he’s under a bride and I think he’s wearing the mercy t-shirts. That photographer looked like it was somebody different from who you used before.
[0:22:50.3] MD: Aha! Like I said, we we’ve worked with many photographers and I enjoy it so much.
[0:22:54.9] KM: Tell me why that guy is wearing such a high rise pants on that —
[0:23:02.5] MD: Which one?
[0:23:02.8] KM: He’s under a bridge and it says, “F Trump,” and he’s got really high rise pants on, higher than you see on most models, and you’re showing off his t-shirt. You’re not selling the pants, but he’s got really high ruse pants on like from the 70s, and I was kind of curious about that.
[0:23:21.2] MD: It’s super in.
[0:23:21.9] KM: I loved it.
[0:23:22.6] MD: Honestly, the 70s and the 80s like trends and styles. It’s all coming back in.
[0:23:28.2] KM: It’s very metrosexual.
[0:23:30.2] MD: Yeah, and I loved it. I think it was great. We like to do that. We like to make people question even the way that we dress the models in our photos and our vision. Yeah.
[0:23:42.6] KM: Okay. I loved it. So you got the graphic guy. You got the photographer. Who else is on your team? Who sells and how do you sell? Who’s your customer?
[0:23:49.6] MD: Sells, really, it’s just me. The way I have it, nowadays everything is online. So what I do is I kind of focus on creating campaigns, and though those campaigns I implement marketing plans in order to reach certain audiences.
[0:24:08.0] KM: Are they Facebook campaigns?
[0:24:08.9] MD: Facebook and Instagram.
[0:24:10.4] KM: Those are your two. You were using almost like Tumblr, I think, the last time I saw it.
[0:24:15.2] MD: It was Twitter. I was using Twitter a lot. I kind of stepped a little bit back from it. I think I just found a lot more impact through Facebook and Instagram, so that’s kind of what I’ve been doing. But Instagram and Facebook has been changing over the year and it’s making it more difficult to execute these marketing plans in order to reach these audiences, but at the end of —
[0:24:36.3] KM: So what are you going to do?
[0:24:37.6] MD: Right now, that’s what I’m working on. I’m kind of messing with these plans a little bit. See what I have to do. Maybe I have to make more paid promotions or whatever it may be.
[0:24:51.8] KM: Have you been using Facebook campaigns without paying for any promotions?
[0:24:55.0] MD: Yeah, and I’m really surprised. I’m really surprised that I’ve been able to create or reach and then impact without using paid promotion. So I’m kind of curious as to like when I do start putting more money into it.
[0:25:09.3] KM: You were also doing a lot of going to cons bands and concerts and outdoor — I don’t know if you were doing the skater —
[0:25:15.8] MD: Yeah. For example, we went to Dallas for a music festival called So What Music Fest. It was really cool, and that wasn’t the first time or the last time that we did that. We’ve definitely been involved in other local shows. We’ve even thrown our own events to really get the community together.
[0:25:37.6] KM: Do you sell enough to make it worth your time to go down there?
[0:25:39.7] MD: Oh, definitely.
[0:25:41.3] KM: Definitely. When is your next band event?
[0:25:44.4] MD: Well, we don’t have a band event, but my friend, Zach, he actually has a brand as well and he’s having a release March 9th actually.
[0:25:55.8] KM: You mean a clothing line?
[0:25:57.8] MD: Mm-hmm. Yeah, you’d be surprised. There’re a lot of us out here.
[0:26:02.2] KM: Y’all are going to end up with a department store on Facebook. They should come up with something like that, like minds all grouped together into one huge kind of mall, Facebook mall.
[0:26:12.5] MD: We do have a little groups on Facebook and Instagram of local creatives who are coming together to build our creative community here.
[0:26:22.9] KM: We talked about one of your struggles, which is Facebook is changing, ever changing.
[0:26:28.4] MD: Yeah, it’s the algorithms. Things used to be a lot different on social media, and now it’s a point where Instagram and Facebook are doing their best to try and squeeze money out of you in order to be relevant nowadays, which is a shame. It’s a shame that we can’t just a platform like that and just be able to express ourselves and be able to talk to our audience.
[0:26:54.9] KM: Marla from Aristotle was on here about 6 months ago and she was the beginning of the internet and she used to just love Google, because it was just the information age. I mean, we’re just the information age. Just get on there and research and do anything, and she pretty much said the same thing you just said. She’s disenchanted with Google trying to make a dollar all the time. It’s not nearly as — I don’t know.
[0:27:22.0] MD: It’s stressful. The stress on just using those platform, that’s just constantly been a headache.
[0:27:26.2] KM: It’s all about money. Whereas before it was kind of creatives and now it’s — Yeah, back to the big money. You talked about you wanted to move a bigger city. You wanted to have brick and mortar. I don’t want to talk about that yet, because it’s time for us to take a break. But when we’re going to come back, I want to hear some about that.
When we come back we’ll continue our conversation with entrepreneur, Maxi Dominguez, from the trendy casual wear, I’m going to say it right, Raiz.
[0:27:56.3] MD: Raiz.
[0:27:56.3] KM: Raiz. Why can I not say that right? Raiz Apparel in Little Rock, Arkansas. If you’ve been considering making the leap to self-employment, what we say next, maybe the [inaudible 0:28:07.8] that pushes you over the edge into becoming one or maybe not into becoming your own boss. If you have any questions for either of us, either me or Maxi, when we come back, Tim will give you the phone number right after the break.
[0:28:23.4] TB: You’re listening to Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy. If you miss any part of the show, a podcast will be made available next week at flagandbanner.com’s website. If you prefer to listen on iTunes, YouTube or SoundCloud, you’ll find those links there as well. Lots of listening options. We’ll be right back with the phone number for calling in.
[0:28:43.0] AM: Arkansas Flag & Banner is proud to underwrite Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy. McCoy began this broadcast a year and a half ago with the intention of offering a mentoring platform for those with an entrepreneurial spirit. Through candid conversation and interesting interviews with business and community-minded Arkansans, listeners gain insight into starting and running a business, the ups and downs of risk-taking and the commonalities of successful people.
Kerry McCoy, founder and president of Arkansas Flag & Banner, believes in paying knowledge and experience forward and developed this radio show as a means of doing so. The biographies, life experiences of her guests would likely go unheard if not for this venue. Rarely do people open up for an hour to an audience about their life, mistakes, triumphs and pitfalls. This unique radio show allows the listener intimate access into the stories or prominent leaders in our state.
I am Adrienne McNally, manager of the Arkansas Flag & Banner show room and gift shop located on the first floor of the historic Taborian Hall on the corner of 9th and State Streets in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. In business for 43 years, we offer an old school shopping experience with front door parking, clerks to help you and department store variety. Open to the public Monday through Friday 8 to 5:30, and Saturday, 10 to 4.
[0:30:10.9] KM: You’re listening to Up in Your Business with me, Kerry McCoy. I’m speaking today with Maxi Dominguez, founder of Raiz Apparel. I finally said it right.
[0:30:20.8] MD: You nailed it.
[0:30:21.2] KM: That’s because Liz walked over here and wrote it out for me the way it should be written in English.
[0:30:27.5] TB: I just found out from one of our employees of Flag & Banner that Maxi here is good friends with two of our coworkers. If you want to give a shout out to them, you know our show room manager and our assistant accountant, Malia and Adrian, correct?
[0:30:42.8] MD: Yup, that’s right.
[0:30:43.8] KM: That was Adrian that just gave us that last little info [inaudible 0:30:48.4]. She’s a good girl. At the beginning of the show, in the intro, I said we were going to talk about the good, the bad and the ugly, and we kind of got into talking about a little bit of the strife in your life, because Facebook keeps constantly changing their algorithms and now you’re having for profit. Have you gotten any more employees since the last time I talked to you, or are they all subcontractors?
[0:31:14.6] MD: No. I haven’t gotten more employees for Raiz, but I have gotten more employees for my other business, which is Wicked Rose.
[0:31:23.2] KM: Bring it baby. What is that?
[0:31:25.3] MD: So a year ago, January last year, I started Wicked Rose Printing Company, which is a screen printing business. But I don’t like to call it a screen printing business. I like to call it a creative platform. But I do — My main service is that I offer through Wicked Rose is screen printing.
[0:31:48.6] KM: T-shirts.
[0:31:48.6] MD: Yup, screen printing t-shirts or whatever you can bring me. I’ll print on it.
[0:31:52.6] KM: How big is your biggest screen?
[0:31:54.2] MD: I have 24 by 20. So usually you don’t have to go bigger than that.
[0:32:00.5] KM: People don’t remember, nobody remembers probably our last. We talked at length about screen printing the last time I interviewed you, because flags were screen-printed when I started doing this — How we made flags back then, and I have screens that are 5 by 15 feet.
[0:32:15.2] MD: Oh, wow!
[0:32:15.9] KM: It takes two people to screen print and pull the squeegee.
[0:32:18.2] MD: I believe it. That’s impressive.
[0:32:20.0] KM: I was going to look for some and give you some.
[0:32:22.5] MD: I would take them.
[0:32:23.6] KM: I know you would. I can’t think of where they are right now.What is good about being your own boss?
[0:32:31.8] MD: I mean, I pretty much wake up every day with a smile on my face. I wake up doing what I love, but there is a lot of struggle that comes with being your own boss, and when I was 18, 19, that’s when I told myself, “I’m going to be my own boss.” That’s what I want to do. When I envisioned that I didn’t expect it to be so hard and I didn’t expect it to come with so many hardships.
[0:33:00.4] KM: What’s the hardships?
[0:33:01.5] MD: Being staying focused, being able to balance up personal life with work and keeping that drive constantly. I mean, I was young. I was young. I’m still young, and we’re trying to balance, like I said, that personal life, because I still want to go out, hang out with friends, enjoy my life, be a little careless and carefree. But I’m starting to realize that I can’t do that. It has to be perfectly planned in order for me to be able to do that.
[0:33:39.2] KM: That’s just growing up.
[0:33:40.3] MD: It is, but there’s just — I feel there’s a lot of comfort with, I guess, having somebody — There’s comfort with having to work for somebody. You kind of know — You’re told what you’re expected and you just do that. The entrepreneurial lifestyle, I feel like you’re kind of in the dark a lot of the time. You can look for mentors and you work with other people to grow and learn, but at the end of the day, it’s all on you and it’s —
[0:34:12.4] KM: The buck stops with you.
[0:34:13.4] MD: Yeah, and if you’re not making the steps you need to make or the sacrifices, you won’t succeed.
[0:34:20.5] KM: We’re getting a call. Hell, you’re listening to Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy. Do you have a call for me or Maxi?
[0:34:28.5] AM: Yes. Hi, Kerry. It’s Adrienne.
[0:34:31.0] KM: Hey, Adrienne McNally.
[0:34:32.9] AM: Actually, I have a question regarding where I left off on the show before I called. Maxi was talking about balancing his work and private life, and I know that you, Kerry, had to work two jobs when you started up your business. So I’m wondering how Maxi is balancing that, if he has to work extra jobs or if Raiz is fully funding his life.
[0:34:55.6] KM: That’s a good question, Adrienne. Thank you.
[0:34:57.8] MD: I’m glad she asked that. Wicked Rose is part of the reason that actually came about was because Raiz is a very hard industry in terms of fashion. It’s a hard industry to —
[0:35:14.5] KM: Fashion is a tough industry.
[0:35:15.6] MD: Extremely tough.
[0:35:18.5] KM: I admire you for doing that. Go ahead. I’m sorry to interrupt.
[0:35:19.7] MD: Thank you. I appreciate that. But I was dead set of being an entrepreneur. I wanted to be my own boss, and over the years while doing Raiz, I taught myself how to screen print just solely for Raiz Apparel. But people, as I started building my network, starting gaining a following, people were coming to me and asking me where do I get my shirts printed. I told them it’s all done in-house, and then people would want to get that service provided to them. I turned it out. I turned it down just because I wanted to really just focus on Raiz. It was at such an early stage in its development that I felt like I really, really needed to focus on it. But I got to a point with Raiz where I felt comfortable, I had more people helping me with it. So that’s when I went ahead and made the decision to launch a second business, which is Wicket Rose Printing Company. It wasn’t until that point that I went full-time entrepreneur. That is how I make my living. I pay all my bills. How I live more or less. That’s how I enjoy my personal life and everything.
[0:36:26.9] KM: But you had equipment you had to buy.
[0:36:28.9] MD: Yeah. I mean —
[0:36:30.0] KM: You’re sowing enough through your printing company, Wicked Rose, to make your note payment, make your — I guess, your rent on your building and pay your utilities, and then I guess you’re pulling the ink yourself probably.
[0:36:42.8] MD: Yup, that’s right.
[0:36:44.3] KM: Then you’re probably invoicing.
[0:36:46.4] MD: Mm-hmm. I was thankful for Raiz Apparel, because Raiz Apparel was — That’s where a lot of my investment for screen printing came. It was over a course of two years.
[0:36:58.3] KM: You had made enough money in the first few years of your apparel business to have a little next egg to start your screen printing business.
[0:37:06.3] MD: Correct.
[0:37:07.8] KM: That’s unusual.
[0:37:08.6] MD: When I did Raiz Apparel, yeah, I had a job. I was working at Zoomy’s, which is a skate shop, and I was an assistant manager there for about two and a half years. That’s actually where I met Adrian. Yeah, I was having that income, but Raiz Apparel was just constantly growing and growing and growing and I was really good about reinvesting all the money that came in into things that would be benefit me in the future.
[0:37:35.7] KM: That is so crucial. That is the reason why I worked the jobs I worked, was so I could take Arkansas Flag & Banner’s money and reinvest it back into it. Then I lived off of my [inaudible 0:37:45.0] waitressing business. How many hours a day do you think — Or how many hours a week do you think you work?
[0:37:53.1] MD: I’d say 50, 60, or so, and that’s just between Raiz Apparel and Wicked Rose. I mean, I have to. I have to. If I’m going to keep making — Make a living off of it and I want to make — If I want to reach the goals that I have for both companies, I have to, and I should honestly be working more than that.
[0:38:13.6] KM: The sign of a true entrepreneur is when you see opportunities like you did in the second one. You kept saying, “No. I’m not going to screen print,” and “No. I’m not going to screen print.” Well, that’s exactly how I ended up screen printing is Desert Storm War broke out. I couldn’t buy the flags from the people I had been buying the flags from and I decided, “Well, I’m going to have to start screen printing.” It’s just this opportunity presents itself, and a true entrepreneur sees it and can’t stand it and has to seize it and jump on it. It drives you crazy, doesn’t it?
[0:38:42.2] MD: It does. It does, but I mean if you’re able to break through that barrier and just take those leaps and teach yourself and just grow in whatever means possible, then you benefit from those.
[0:38:55.8] KM: So the good is you’re getting to have your outlet, your creative outlet. You’re getting to be an entrepreneur and be your own boss.
[0:39:05.9] MD: I’m happy. That’s my biggest thing. I’m happy.
[0:39:07.7] KM: You wake up every day and you’re excited to go to work and kill the day, crush the day. But the bad is you’re not guaranteed a paycheck.
[0:39:16.5] MD: Nope, that’s right, and it is the biggest headache in the world. I mean, it’s constantly eating at you that you might not have enough at the end of the day or at the end of the month. But there’s also a lot of good that comes with that, because through that struggle it makes you push. You either have to sink or swim, and I always choose to swim. I’ve struggled, but I’ll never sink, because I think the whole sink and swim thing, that’s a choice.
[0:39:46.0] KM: I think a lot of people become entrepreneurs because they — Not so much because they’re wanting to have all these control over other people, but maybe it’s because they just don’t want other people to have control over them. So what’s the hardest conversation that you’ve ever had to have with a coworker or a team member?
[0:40:10.0] MD: So, really, when I started bringing in people on to the team, I mean I was — What? 22, 21.
[0:40:22.5] KM: But you started when you’re 18.
[0:40:23.9] MD: That’s when it all started, like the pocket t-shirts and sewing.
[0:40:26.8] KM: But then it started growing when you were 21, 22.
[0:40:29.4] MD: And I took it serious and I was like, “Okay. I need a team. I want to make it an official thing.” I mean, one of the biggest troubles I had was properly managing not myself, but a team. How do I get the whole thing going smoothly?
[0:40:50.8] KM: Procedures, I guess.
[0:40:51.7] MD: Right, and I mean planning accordingly, I was no longer responsible for just myself. I was responsible for a few other people who are looking at me on what to do next or what they need to be doing. I did struggle with that a whole lot at the beginning, but I learned how crucial communication was. How crucial planning and executing things properly is.
[0:41:20.3] KM: You struggled with the fact that everybody was looking to you for answers or you struggled with the fact that everybody wanted you to tell them what to do.
[0:41:28.9] MD: More of like looking for answers, because, I mean, since everything was so new to me, a lot of the time I didn’t even know the answers myself. I was still in the dark about a lot of things. I was still going through the whole trial and error and process.
[0:41:42.2] KM: So they would come to you and say, “What do you want us to do about this?” And you’d go —
[0:41:46.6] MD: They were looking for a more solidified plan, and sometimes I didn’t have that. Sometimes it took me longer to come out with these plans, and then when I did have these plans, executing was a whole different thing. How am I going to actually execute this to the best of its ability? It was all trial and error. Trial and error, trial and error —
[0:42:10.6] KM: Could you have learned it in school?
[0:42:12.1] MD: I’m sure I could have, but not — To me, there’s a big — Going things by the book, you learn a lot. You learn the insides of things, how to mentally prepare yourself for these things. It’s completely different when you actually are physically having to do these things.
[0:42:30.3] KM: When you’re in the trenches.
[0:42:31.0] MD: Exactly.
[0:42:31.6] KM: Do you know how to — You went to school for entrepreneurship. Did you learn how to read your financials, your income statement, your balance sheet?
[0:42:38.9] MD: Yeah, that’s actually one of the few things I did learn, and I really want to go back, because now I’m at a point where a lot of things are more important now, the internal things about the companies, and I want to be better at that, and I know that’s my responsibility.
[0:42:54.6] KM: They’ll make sense to you know when you go back, because when you first do it you’re like, “If I could just pass this test.”
[0:42:59.9] MD: Yeah, exactly. Now, it’s like, when I go back it’s going to be with a true purpose, with actual ambition. I mean, I’m not going to lie to you. School wasn’t always my favorite, but now I have a need to want to go back and want to better myself.
[0:43:19.0] KM: I don’t want to take a break. Tell everybody they’re listening to Up in Your Business with me, Kerry McCoy, and I’m speaking today with Maxi Dominguez, founder of Raiz Apparel and of the Wicked Rose Printing Company. You said you wanted to leave Little Rock and move to a bigger city. You also said — I love this. You’re so young and full of ideas, that you wanted to get sticks and bricks. I said, “That’s expensive.” It sounds like you’ve got sticks and bricks since I last talked to you, because you have a printing shop.
[0:43:49.4] MD: So it’s not like an open to the public brick and mortar. Pretty much I’ve worked with what I’ve got. I literally just work out of a small space, which is a garage. In this garage, it’s just private to me and my workers, and to me that was important to be able to save money as much as I can, and I was able to get a good little spot for a good price relatively. Now I can actually afford to bring in extra hands, because I’ve played my cards right in that sense.
[0:44:21.3] KM: So you’re not living in the house and working out at your garage like I did?
[0:44:24.8] MD: No. Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m doing.
[0:44:26.4] KM: Oh, okay. Good. Guess what I did? I ran Arkansas Flag & Banner out of my house for, I believe, 7 or 9 years, somewhere in there.
[0:44:35.1] MD: It’s the smartest thing you can do. What’s funny is, at my house, I had a guy who just randomly knocked on my door, and he was door salesman. I actually opened up my garage. I was printing and everything and he saw my printing equipment, he’s like, “Oh, you’re a screen printer.” I was like, “Yeah.” He told me he actually owned his own printing business before, his printing company, and he told me all about it and he told me that the smartest thing you could do — And this is a great advice, which is if you got something that’s working, don’t constantly try to grow. If it’s working, keep it working. You don’t need to invest in crazy machine that you probably don’t need. You don’t need to invest in a huge warehouse with more space that you probably won’t need. What’s working, keep it working.
[0:45:26.3] KM: That’s a great advice.
[0:45:26.6] MD: It was, and it gave me a peace of mind, because I constantly thought that I needed to get more equipment, new things to make it seem, I guess, like it was —
[0:45:36.3] KM: Push, push, push.
[0:45:36.6] MD: Right. I guess that’s what gave me my comfort that I was succeeding, but it doesn’t come in that. It comes in just the actual business you’re putting out.
[0:45:45.3] KM: I think it’s kind of part of your DNA though. You’re going to be always pushing, pushing, pushing, but I made that mistake. I went out and bought a $250,000 piece of equipment 20 years ago and it never did pay for itself. I ended up having to put a second mortgage on my house. So I think that is a great advice, because you get wound up into believing your own stuff, “If I get this big equipment, then everything is going to change.”
[0:46:08.3] MD: Right. There’s a fine balance. You got to be realistic, but you also got to have drive and think big.
[0:46:13.4] KM: That’s exactly right. How do you think big without making big mistakes sometimes, because you kind of believe your own BS, as Mark said last week on the regular show. He said, “Be careful of believing your own BS.”
So you’re not as wound up about getting bricks and sticks.
[0:46:31.5] MD: No. I really would like to get a brick and mortar for the brand.
[0:46:35.1] KM: Brick and mortar.
[0:46:35.6] MD: Aha, and for —
[0:46:37.2] KM: So you could save your clothes out of it.
[0:46:38.6] MD: Right. Just because I do have plans to eventually want to move to, like I said, a bigger city, but I don’t want to leave Little Rock until I’ve left my mark here, a solidified mark where people can shop my brand when they want to. Yes, I have an online store, but I really want to, I guess, contribute to my community and I feel like that’s something that I could do for my community. Have, I guess, a store for people. A place where they can go and really experience the lifestyle that comes with the brand.
[0:47:12.1] KM: Would it be in downtown Little Rock?
[0:47:13.3] MD: Oh, yeah, definitely.
[0:47:16.1] KM: Your family is from Argentina, but your mother lives in Little Rock?
[0:47:20.3] MD: Yeah, she does.
[0:47:21.2] KM: She wouldn’t like you probably moving off too much.
[0:47:23.2] MD: No, but I’m sure she’ll understand.
[0:47:25.8] KM: Would you recommend being self-employed to other people?
[0:47:28.4] MD: Yes, if they’re willing to work extremely hard and put in a lot of sacrifice.
[0:47:35.3] KM: A lot of people work really, really hard even when they’re working for other people.
[0:47:41.3] MD: Mm-hmm.
[0:47:42.5] KM: Look, I’m looking at all my people around here. They’re all smiling at me, but there’s that one thing that you just cannot quench that fire in you of always waking up for the next thing, even this radio show that we started a year and a half ago, I mean I don’t know why I’m doing it.
[0:48:01.0] MD: Do you feel fulfillment from it?
[0:48:02.9] KM: So much.
[0:48:03.6] MD: That’s why you do it. You found an outlet for yourself, and I think that’s important for everybody. Whether you benefit from it or whether you just enjoy what you’re doing, I think it’s good for us. It’s healthy. It’s for our health. We need to have an outlet.
[0:48:21.5] KM: Be stimulated all the time. So what’s your next line going to be? Have you already been working on it?
[0:48:27.7] MD: Yeah. Actually I’m ahead of schedule, which is great. I have two collections that are already ready to go.
[0:48:36.7] KM: Can you tell us or is it a secret?
[0:48:38.0] MD: It’s more of a secret.
[0:48:39.2] KM: Oh! How fun! When are they going to come out?
[0:48:45.2] MD: I’m thinking — I really want to start making some marketing moves for it end of March, but probably early April.
[0:48:54.4] KM: Oh! Soon.
[0:48:54.8] MD: Yeah, very soon. That’s actually something that I’ve implemented to the brand for this year for our campaign, is I want things to be moving at a fast pace.
[0:49:04.3] KM: What’s your website? Tell everybody what your website address is.
[0:49:06.4] MD: It’s raizapparel.com.
[0:49:07.8] KM: Spell it.
[0:49:08.2] MD: R-A-I-Z A-P-P-A-R-E-L.
[0:49:13.1] KM: Well, it’s just the Raiz that we need to spell, because — To me, it looks like Ra — What did I say earlier? Now I can’t even say it.
[0:49:23.1] MD: I mean, people say Raiz, people say Raiz. They say all kinds of things.
[0:49:26.8] KM: I was saying Raiz, but that’s what it is.
[0:49:30.8] MD: It’s Raiz. If you say it so many times, you confuse yourself.
[0:49:35.8] TB: Think of it like rye, like the plant rye, and then ease.
[0:49:41.1] KM: That would be R-Y-E-Z-Z, not R-A-I-Z. Okay. It’s Argentina for root or origin, which is so you. I hope everybody goes online and looks at you, because your hair has grown another six inches since the last time I saw you.
[0:49:59.6] MD: [inaudible 0:49:58.8] next time.
[0:50:00.4] KM: You and Crystal Gayle. Say the name of your website one more time.
[0:50:07.9] MD: It’s Raiz Apparel, R-A-I-Z.
[0:50:10.2] KM: Okay. There we go. You’re going to —
[0:50:11.7] TB: The screen printing company, does it have a website?
[0:50:14.2] MD: No. We actually don’t have a website for it.
[0:50:16.7] TB: So how does someone get screen printed from Wicked Rose?
[0:50:19.8] KM: Good question, Tim.
[0:50:20.5] MD: Yeah, that was a very good question. We have a Facebook page, and that’s traditionally where I market a lot of the company, then Instagram. Instagram has been our biggest platform to do business with our clients. We’re able to showcase our work through pictures. What’s great is Raiz has been able to build a network for me to already kind of dive into with Wicked Rose. Then my own personal network, people have already been wanting that service. When people know about Raiz, they usually know about Wicked Rose.
[0:50:59.2] KM: So if you have your Face — You could make up another Wicked Rose Facebook page, and then when people go to Raiz’s Facebook page, they could see the other business there, right?
[0:51:08.7] MD: Yeah, correct. I try to cross promote the two as much possible. With Raiz Apparel, every single one of my post I tag Wicked Rose, and it’s relevant, because Wicked Rose is technically the company that prints all of Raiz. So that’s how I try to cross-promote those two, and it works. It works.
[0:51:30.2] KM: I love all of your themes. I can’t wait to see what your new lines are that come out. I have my own t-shirt for you that I didn’t have you print, but I’m going to have you print from now on. How about that? Oh no, I can’t, because another one of my employees prints this one for me. I forgot.
[0:51:49.0] MD: Ooh! I like that.
[0:51:50.1] KM: It says Up Yours, Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy.
[0:51:55.1] MD: I love it.
[0:51:57.0] KM: I knew you would. Up yours, it’s your attitude.
[0:51:58.1] MD: Let me show my people. Look at that.
[0:52:02.0] KM: Here, show my people.
[0:52:04.6] MD: Up yours.
[0:52:05.7] KM: Up yours. That is so you.
[0:52:06.4] MD: I love it.
[0:52:06.9] KM: You can rip that off if you want to.
[0:52:07.9] MD: Thank you so much.
[0:52:10.0] KM: You’re welcome. Who’s our guest next week, Tim?
[0:52:12.3] TB: Our guest next week is, I believe, Wilson. Is that —
[0:52:17.4] KM: Oh!
[0:52:19.3] TB: What is he again? I’m so confused. Why is he going to be our guest?
[0:52:23.0] KM: Okay. He’s being funny. Wilson Kennedy is a subcontract of Arkansas Flag & Banner that I’ve gotten to know over the last decade, and he is funny and thinks I’m funny. When we get together we laugh nonstop, and he’s going to come and roast me next week. He’s going to interview me. That’s why Tim was being like, “Who is our guest next week?” It’s me. I’m the guest next week, and Wilson Kennedy is going to roast me. Boy! You talk about a scenic. I hope he’s listening.
He is the ultimate scenic. I love it. He’s a great guy, and he’s smart as a whip. He’s self-employed also. So we’ll talk a little bit about his business.
Anything else I need to say? Nope? I think that’s it.
[0:53:07.2] TB: My suggestion would be check out alternative social media sites that are beginning to popup, because what I’ve noticed is the bot problem on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter doesn’t exist on mines, gabs, steam it and all of the new social media, because it’s all just people. So check those sites.
[0:53:26.6] KM: I’ve never even heard of those.
[0:53:27.1] MD: I will. Thank you. I appreciate that.
[0:53:29.6] KM: I’ve never even heard of those.
[0:53:30.8] MD: Yeah, I haven’t either, honestly.
[0:53:32.3] KM: He’s going to have to write them down for you at the end.
[0:53:36.1] TB: Yeah, I can do that.
[0:53:37.3] KM: Maxi, give me one word to sum you up.
[0:53:40.9] MD: Oh, god!
[0:53:42.3] KM: It’s a good question, isn’t it?
[0:53:43.6] MD: One word to sum me up.
[0:53:46.4] KM: I know it.
[0:53:46.7] MD: What? You tell me.
[0:53:48.3] KM: Creative.
[0:53:49.3] MD: Creative. Okay. I like that one.
[0:53:51.4] KM: No, I got another one. Real.
[0:53:54.4] MD: Okay, creative and real. I love those two, honestly.
[0:53:58.0] KM: That’s because they’re you. I’m glad you love yourself, because that’s you.
[0:54:02.0] MD: Hey, everybody should love themselves.
[0:54:03.2] KM: That’s so true.
[0:54:04.6] MD: That’s true love right there.
[0:54:07.2] KM: We didn’t even practice that.
If you have a great entrepreneurial story that you would like to share, I would love to hear from you. Send a brief bio and your contact info to —
[0:54:18.1] TB: Questions@upyourbusiness.org.
[0:54:21.0] KM: Finally, to our listeners. Thank you for spending time with me. If you think this program has been about you, you’re right, but it’s also been for me. Thank you for letting me fulfill my destiny. My hope today is that you’ve heard or learned something that’s been inspiring or enlightening, and that it, whatever it is, will help you up your business, your independence or your life.
I’m Kerry McCoy and I’ll see you next time on Up in Your Business. Until then, be brave and keep it up.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
[0:54:54.4] TB: You’ve been listening to Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy. If you’d like to hear this program again, next week go to flagandbanner.com, click the tab labeled radio show and they’re you’ll find a podcast with links to resources you heard discussed on today’s show.
Kerry’s goal; to help you live the American dream.
[END]
