Basement Hustler to Corporate Cash Flow W/Janan McDougal

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:00:00

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Monty, my creative business podcast, the number one podcast for creatives to learn strategy, structure and self development. I am your host, Ron ironically Jr.

ShySpeaks [: 00:00:14

And I am your host, Shot Speaks. And today we are excited. As always. I say all the guests, but this one is special because it's different. Okay? I'm telling y'all. Matter of fact, let me do this because I'd be too excited. Ron, introduce our guest.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:00:30

All right, so listen, we have the phenomenal Janet McDougal, but she is the owner of a phenomenal company called the Printheads. Actually, if you're looking at these here, the Minding my creative business jumpsuit here, her company did these jumpsuits for us. So yes, she is someone that worked in corporate, that left corporate to pursue her dreams of entrepreneurship. She is also an online influencer, social media influencer, and she is a podcast host as well now. So Jaynan McDougall, welcome.

Janan McDougal [: 00:01:04

That sounds so weird. Like, I'm like, I'm just now entering into this realm. I'm like, this is weird. But yeah, thank you.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:01:11

Welcome, welcome to. Welcome, welcome. So that's how I would introduce you. So how would you introduce yourself?

Janan McDougal [: 00:01:16

Yeah, so no, thank you for the, for the introduction. I think you. You hit the nail on the head. You know, I'm a. I'm a serial entrepreneur and I've always been a visionary. And I knew from a long time ago that I wanted to have my own business. I knew I had the vision, I had it set up. I just didn't know the what.

Janan McDougal [: 00:01:38

And I knew I was creative and I knew I liked to do, you know, different things. People always liked stuff that I put together, liked how I put things together. And so I was working corporate America. I was a financial advisor, I was a stockbroker, did all of these things. I mean, the high stress, all of that, clients calling me nonstop, talking about what's up with my portfolio, and I was just done. I was like, wore out. It wasn't what I wanted to do. I got into the business because my dad is like, hey, go do this right out of college and this will.

ShySpeaks [: 00:02:14

Be great for you.

Janan McDougal [: 00:02:14

And I'm like, okay, well, you know what, they make great money and let me go try and see it. So I went on, went after I finished school, went on, took the test that I needed to take in order to get licensed, and I hit the ground running. So I started and I became a top producing, really the only top producing African American female in the company. And so I was, you know, really on my thing and the market crashed. And I was just like, okay, you know, is this really what I want to do? Stuck it out through the market crash. And I said, you know what, I am working really, really hard and I'm doing something that I felt like I was on a hamster wheel constantly. And I remember having this moment where I just felt like, okay, Jayden, if you continue to go at this rate, at this pace, you're not going to be here long. And so I was just kind of sitting with myself and I heard this, I heard loud as day, step out and step up.

Janan McDougal [: 00:03:11

So, so, you know, usually when somebody, when, you know, you get that whole feeling inside, it's like you start to tell people just so that they can talk you out of it. That's what I think. They can talk you out of it. So I told my husband and I'm like, you know, I think I need to, you know, like, leave work. And I just think I need to just put my energy into building something on my own. And surprisingly, he said, well, if you need to leave, go.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:03:36

Yeah, support.

Janan McDougal [: 00:03:39

Yeah. I said support. Yeah, exactly. I said, well, so now I didn't talk to all of this stuff and now I had to back it up. So it's one of those situations where it's like, if you. That was my only shot. If I'm gonna talk it, I need to stand behind it, otherwise I'm never gonna be able to pull this card again. And so I said, well, all right, I'm gonna jump.

Janan McDougal [: 00:03:58

He said, okay, so I left. I went and I went, you know, feet first into the deep end and just started, you know, my business from there.

ShySpeaks [: 00:04:08

When you say you just left, did you just leave? Like, did you do like an exit strategy? Okay, let me do three months, six months. Okay. Or did you just say, all right, I'm gonna give you the regular decent two weeks notice and then I'm leaving? That's important. They're like, how do I get out?

Janan McDougal [: 00:04:26

Yeah, yeah, well, you know what? So I was, I did it probably not the most conventional way. I would suggest that somebody kind of eases into it and they use their employment, you know, as their, you know, fund themselves first and then, you know, move on and, and start a different business and use that second business, you know, to, you know, start. You're doing that as a part time thing until you can make that your full time. That's what I would suggest. That wasn't necessarily my story because I'm also, I'm a jumper anyway.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:04:57

Okay.

Janan McDougal [: 00:04:57

And I feel like if as long as I am operating in God's will, then I just can't. I can't fail. And so when I believe that to my now, I can't. I can't advise that way because I don't know if God didn't tell me.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:05:08

What you're supposed to do.

Janan McDougal [: 00:05:09

I don't know if that's what you're supposed to do. I just know that that was what I was supposed to do. And so I said, well, I'm out, you know. So that was. That was unconventional for me, but nonetheless, through the ups and downs, because business ownership is not easy. It's not for the faint of heart. You know, it's been a lot of peaks in a lot of valleys. And during those valley moments, I had some times where I'm like, I don't know if I made the right decision.

ShySpeaks [: 00:05:33

Almost to call back and see if I can.

Janan McDougal [: 00:05:36

Well, you know, my licenses actually had a shelf life of like two years where I could be away from a company. And so I was like, I got to that 18 months and I went on an interview and I went to an interview with one of the big financial companies, and they loved me when I was in there. And they were like, when can I hire you? But let me tell you what I felt walking in. I felt the weight that I felt immediately after leaving out. I felt that weight and I was like, I can't go back. And so that, from that moment, that was my fork in the road moment. I said, there is no plan B once those licenses fail. There was no plan B.

Janan McDougal [: 00:06:13

I had to make it work. So here I am standing 14 years later.

ShySpeaks [: 00:06:17

Wow, okay. Owner of the printheads. So you just said you just started your business. Okay. When you said, okay, I started my business from there. What business? What did you start from there? Like, what exactly? Because I'm sure you started from home. You didn't just start out, because right now we know you have a. Is it 5,000 square feet or no.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:06:40

10,000 square feet, like, production house.

ShySpeaks [: 00:06:44

And we want to get. If you're watching this and you have a desire to, like, I'm into that. I want to do something like that. We're going to hear how to get to the production house. But, like, I'm pretty sure you didn't say, okay, I'm going to start my business. Let me go get this production house or get this 10,000 square feet. So, like, what. What did you start? How did you start and what was needed to get started, you know?

Janan McDougal [: 00:07:03

Yeah, yeah, that's a Good question. Originally, when I started, I started in my basement and in my basement in one room of my basement. And that room, in fact, not only a room, a corner of the room in the basement. So we're talking one heat press machine, one vinyl cutter. I paid at the time $500 total just to get my entire setup.

ShySpeaks [: 00:07:27

Okay.

Janan McDougal [: 00:07:28

And from there I knew that I wanted to. I moved conservatively anyway. I just came from the investment world. So I was thinking about the numbers, you know, and I was very much so connected to that. So, you know, just the understanding my margins, the profits, the losses and the overhead and all of that stuff, that, that was like very fresh in my mind. So I knew that I wanted a model that was. I eased in conservatively. So I didn't.

Janan McDougal [: 00:07:53

What I did is I found vendors that would allow me to just do one or two or three pieces at a time and I didn't have to order huge volume. So I didn't. I could save on that. What it allowed me to do is it allowed me to get those onesie twosie orders in, really start to get that word of mouth going. Because the business grew from the core corner of the room in the basement to a 1200 square foot location in about two years.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:08:21

Wow.

Janan McDougal [: 00:08:22

And that two year time frame, and really, you know, that was a, that was a faith walk too, jumping into that. But in that two year time frame leading up to that and once I finally jumped into the building, the first building, I was in a place where I had now customers coming over to my house, now picking up world, it's like, okay, now we're talking about safety and we're talking about my family. And these are now, the business is now growing to a point where I'm not really controlling who is coming, you know, because the word of mouth is, it's just spread.

ShySpeaks [: 00:08:55

It's not just family or friends or somebody who you know, and somebody who you know. This is exactly.

Janan McDougal [: 00:09:00

Yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:09:01

Right. Now I do have a question. Right. So were you already doing this prior to you quitting? Like, what made you choose like this business specifically?

Janan McDougal [: 00:09:11

Yeah. So, you know, I think that, you know, in this era where people are seeing social media and they see that they, you click on somebody's page, it's like, bam. They got their whole life together. Like there was no in between. It's just auto. It's just like bam. To bam. You know, and it's not like that.

Janan McDougal [: 00:09:28

That's not real, real life. It's not my life either. I started out once I left corporate America I didn't even start with the printheads. I actually started. There were, like, three other businesses that predated the printheads. There was one that I sold jewelry for, and I went around to just different jewelry shops or different hair salons, and I would swap out my jewelry. I was doing everything that I knew how in terms of sales and trying to incorporate my professional background into something new where I can generate money. Because at the time, I'm still trying to figure it out.

Janan McDougal [: 00:10:04

But I know that I have a. I have the work ethic. I have the knowledge on how to make something work. And all I needed to do is just figure out that thing. So while I was figuring out the thing, I needed to make some money. So me selling jewelry, that was business number one, right? Outside of corporate. Business number two was a. Was a consulting company that actually did work for quite some time, which I learned a lot from that consulting company.

Janan McDougal [: 00:10:32

I was able to sit up under my. My client was my grandfather, John Barfield. And John Barfield, he's no longer with us, but he has a phenomenal story for anybody that's interested in going and checking out his book. It's on Amazon. There's. You know, you can get it online. But there. His book is titled Starting from Scratch.

Janan McDougal [: 00:10:54

The Humble beginnings of a $2 billion enterprise. And it talks about him, his journey from being the son of a sharecropper and migrating north and how he built his business. So I was able to be a. I operated as his assistant consultant, his book, fulfillment center. I mean, so I was able to just absorb all of that. I really call it, like, one of the greatest gifts of my life, being able to sit up under him for that period of time. And I did that for about a year and a half or so while I was trying to figure out my way. And then ultimately I started a brand called the Baby says where and Baby says where was a T shirt maternity line.

Janan McDougal [: 00:11:38

Okay, now the T shirt maternity line. Mama thought I was pregnant. I wasn't even pregnant. I didn't know. Nobody pregnant. Why was I thinking about a pregnant T shirt? I have no idea, but it sounded like a great idea, right? But. So God got a way of doing things, though, because, you know, the one thing that if he would have told me that I'm gonna. I'm gonna give you a print company that is going to be printing for companies all over the world that you're gonna be able to print for Warner Brothers Studios.

Janan McDougal [: 00:12:05

You're gonna be able to print for the Carhartts, the little Caesars, Arenas, the Tiger stadiums you're gonna be able to print for. On that level. Would I have been scared enough to say yes? I would have probably been like, okay, all right, that's what's up. But let me. Let me get back to you on that. Let me get right.

ShySpeaks [: 00:12:24

Cuz, like, I don't even know any. I don't even know about that. Right. So how am I going to be that great?

Janan McDougal [: 00:12:31

Exactly, exactly.

ShySpeaks [: 00:12:32

So I needed. Basically, you needed a place to hone the skill. And so it. An idea came in your mind that may have not even been the great idea. If you feel like it wasn't great. Like, I don't know what that was you.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:12:47

But it's very niche.

ShySpeaks [: 00:12:50

Yeah, yeah. So it's like. But the idea came and it introduced you into this world, right. Of needing to print and make and design and do. Okay, so I like it.

Janan McDougal [: 00:13:01

Yeah. Yeah. It was small enough in my brain to wrap my. You know, for my. For me to wrap my brain around it and for me to be able to say, oh, I can do that. But the funny thing is, I never even did one shirt for. I never did one maternity shirt for one person. In fact, I may have done one, but I gave that away as a.

Janan McDougal [: 00:13:16

More of a promo. But I never. That business never got off the ground running because while I was in there trying, trying to get everything together, that's when people started to learn, oh, you're doing shirts. Can you do a shirt for me? And then one thing led to another and it happened instantaneously.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:13:31

Okay.

Janan McDougal [: 00:13:32

So that is really the journey. And it wasn't an overnight light switch. Turn it on. Okay. Bam. Prickheads. We didn't heard about you. We know.

Janan McDougal [: 00:13:40

We got your shirts. We wear your stuff. This has been a journey.

ShySpeaks [: 00:13:44

Wow, wow, wow. Okay, So I know that. Listen to you. You are a woman of faith, and I'm sure that impact is important to you as well. It's like, I need to do something that. Because I say that, because you, You. You have that part which is like the. To be aware of where you are, what God is saying to you, and what maybe he wants you to do.

ShySpeaks [: 00:14:06

So I see that. Then I also see the financial side, right? Which is like, I don't care so much about just money enough to where I'm willing to, like, drain myself for it. I care enough about it because I want to make it. But I need something that's going to allow me to make money and, like, be fulfilled and make impact, use all my gifts and abilities, put my Energy in like. So I see that. So I know that eventually you birth out something that's like, that allows you to. To. To do that in that way.

Janan McDougal [: 00:14:36

And I.

ShySpeaks [: 00:14:36

And I've looked into it. So I know there's a nonprofit. There's a.

Janan McDougal [: 00:14:40

There's.

ShySpeaks [: 00:14:40

There. So his Print Heads is not just this print shop. It became this thing where I'm able to. Okay, how can I now give back? I don't want to just receive, receive, receive. If I want to receive, I can go walk right back in to these jobs that were draining me, but I could do it. So I know you eventually get there, but. But. But I don't want to jump.

ShySpeaks [: 00:14:59

We're going to talk about that, by the way, for those of you guys who are like, I want to start a. I have a business, and I know I want to start a nonprofit side to it, and I want to give back. We got you. She. I'm telling you, I know she got it. She go drop these gems. But before we get there, you just jumped us and said, we.

Janan McDougal [: 00:15:11

We.

ShySpeaks [: 00:15:11

In two years, it went to the 1200 square foot. Okay, what is. Give us, like, on the creative business piece. Give us, like, some numbers. Give me some back office numbers. What is going on financially? Like, what's your volume of sales to where you say, I need a location. Not just the safety, but it has to be a certain amount of, like, you can constitute having that space. So we already started.

ShySpeaks [: 00:15:36

We started in the basement. Take me to the studio, because somebody just needs to get to the studio. So give us that piece.

Janan McDougal [: 00:15:42

So I remember it was a time when I started out originally, and I said, well, I remember by the end of the year when I had to file taxes, let's say the first year I did. Let's say I was like, $10,000. I did that. And I was like, all right, I'm off the ground. I did it. 10 grand. I got that under my belt. You look at all the losses, and it's like, man, well, you know, scrap that.

Janan McDougal [: 00:16:05

But the. I knew once it was time to move. When I got into the new place, I. When I. When it. When it was time, I was nervous because now I had overhead, whereas I didn't necessarily have that before. And are people gonna come. Still come to me that are even more outside of the people that are coming to me now? And so I weighed those things.

Janan McDougal [: 00:16:29

But then I. And I looked around, and one of the things I. I say about my journey is that anything that's easy, it's. I know it's for me. Because everything for me happens so easily. If I got to push too hard, I. That's my red flag that this is not. I'm not.

Janan McDougal [: 00:16:43

I'm already operating in a space that I don't need to be in because everything happens easy for me. And so when I go to. I said, you know, I'm just gonna go. And I'm just, look, I'm just gonna go see about this place. And I'm not, you know, walking in with any expectations. And I walk in, and he's like, I have showed this place to all of these people yet. I want you. And yes, this.

Janan McDougal [: 00:17:06

The ring will be X, Y, or Z. I said, okay. I mean, it was. I saw one place, and that was actually. That's been my story. Actually, I saw. I only saw one place twice for both of my locations. And I just knew what he meant immediately.

Janan McDougal [: 00:17:18

Like, this. It was too easy. It had to be for me.

ShySpeaks [: 00:17:21

But. But okay, you go from selling one or two shirts, you say onesie Tuesdays. Yeah, but how many are you at by the time you get ready to go to the studio? Yeah, so, yeah, in a month's time frame.

Janan McDougal [: 00:17:32

So in a month's time frame, I'm at the point where now I am at least generating my rent. At the time, it was like twelve hundred dollars. I remember that. And twelve hundred dollars, I know I was at least doing. At least doing $4,000, at least a month in my revenues. And so I was like, okay, I can justify the expense now. You know, now that we have other expenses, and now I need a staff and stuff like that. So then there were some other things that I had to kind of figure out and navigate.

Janan McDougal [: 00:18:04

So I worked it by myself for a while, even at the shop, the first shop. And once I got to a place, I used to have this, you know, sticker on my wall. It was just a piece of paper. And I got some old pictures through my. My social media pages that have this piece of paper, white piece of paper with $20,000 on it. And I used to look at it every day because that $20,000, that was the number that I said, I know that I am not made it, but I feel good once I make a $20,000 a month.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:18:37

Okay?

Janan McDougal [: 00:18:38

So that number. That number now is no longer $20,000. $20,000. I'm scared if we're just doing that a month, you know, I'm like, okay, what's happening? I'm fussing at everybody. Like, the shot. The ship is burning. Everything is going down. What's happening.

Janan McDougal [: 00:18:53

But that was a, that was, I think, a con that remained a constant reminder for me that I needed to keep my vision in front of me because every time I see it, it, I, I can't escape it. And it's just manifesting. And not only did it do that, I mean, it did that. I mean, I make four times, sometimes five times per month over that, you know, and that is just like a testament to. Yeah, I don't care how big you think your dreams are, God is like, oh, no, no, baby, I got more now.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:19:25

Now what's the. Like I said, I hear you from. Okay, we were in the basement. Went from the basement to. Into the 1200 square foot space. We haven't talked to, even Talked about the 10,000 square foot space yet. But how are you getting these customers? Like, how are you acquiring customers? Like, yeah, at that point.

ShySpeaks [: 00:19:41

Right, because it went basement level. We word them out. Right? And that's just friends telling the friend onesie twosies. And then that start now, they start telling other people. Okay, but now studio, you just said, I want them to share with people who, even beyond that group of people, I want all them to come back and then I need to attract new people. So how.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:20:00

That's a good question.

ShySpeaks [: 00:20:02

How you.

Janan McDougal [: 00:20:02

Yeah, that was really kind of like. I mean, we were just kind of getting into socials for real. You know, we were like right off the MySpace era, kind of a little bit, like, a little bit beyond that. But Instagram was really just starting to get, you know, going. And so social media was not my primary source of, you know, marketing. Right. My first, I would say big contract or big deal was with an organization that went on Good Morning America and they wore the shirts and it was like a 500 shirt order. And it was so many shirts for me at the time that when the delivery truck came, they couldn't even get all of them in the front room of my house.

Janan McDougal [: 00:20:44

They had to, I mean, boxes stacked up outside and that was like a. Oh, okay, here we go. Like, this is the fun time, you know, now it's time to have some fun. But it was not, it wasn't all of that all of a sudden. It was definitely like a huge break that had to have happened. And that was really with me just being. Showing up professionally. People just wanted to call back, honestly.

Janan McDougal [: 00:21:09

I mean, there is nothing else that I heard more. It was that I left that company because they just didn't call me back. And it's like, well, that was it. I mean, here I'm thinking I gotta, you know, bring out all of the corporate traits.

ShySpeaks [: 00:21:23

You know, do I gotta, you know.

Janan McDougal [: 00:21:24

What, you know, what do I have to do? I have to, you know, send thank you letters? Do I have to continue to call and follow up? They just wanted a phone call back, period.

ShySpeaks [: 00:21:30

Wow. So just, you were just. So your strategy was taking the customer feedback and serving them in the way that they wanted to be served? Which is when I get people, I'm retaining them because I follow, I have a follow up habit with them.

Janan McDougal [: 00:21:45

Yeah. And you know, I think my strategy was trying to take a, trying to operate in an industry where people would normally just say, okay, that's an industry where, you know, it's music playing loud, you know, people dressed in your type of way, you know, whatever free flowing life, you know, however it looks in your mind when you think about, you know, a creative T shirt printing shop or something like that, I wanted to level that up and I wanted to give them a professional, almost corporate experience because that's where I came from. And so it was different. And I think it was a breath of fresh air for a lot of people.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:22:23

Right? No, and that's interesting as you say that. Right. Because you know, we're creatives, we work with creatives and we know how working with creatives can be. Right. There's a, you know, there's a. Is it a myth? I don't know. But there's, you know, there's, there seems to be like there can be a lack of professionalism like you said. It seems that, you know, not dependable, not reliable and things like that.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:22:48

So it seems like what you're saying is for me, I wanted to bring that professionalism that I learned in corporate, that being intentional, being consistent. Right. Being dependable, I wanted to bring that to my business so that not only did that retain customers, but because now once again, referral base is big. They're sharing with other people to let them know that, oh, this isn't your typical creative brand. Right. Like they're, they're dependable.

Janan McDougal [: 00:23:18

Absolutely.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:23:18

Okay.

ShySpeaks [: 00:23:19

This is a professional.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:23:21

Right.

ShySpeaks [: 00:23:21

Print situation I just walked into. Okay, so that's how you're retaining customers at this time. You are deploying social media a little bit to get organic traffic. Are you at ads yet at this point? Are you going to trade shows? Are you getting in certain books or what? What are all the promo strategies to get new people to talk to you or is it still just this really cool word of mouth thing that's happening?

Janan McDougal [: 00:23:47

So word of mouth happened for Quite a long time. But. But with a lot of, you know, a lot more strategy, I started to focus my efforts on centers of influence. So instead of going to just mass markets, instead of going to vending shows, I knew that wasn't for me. I wasn't for the vendor life. Not knocking nobody who does because it's a lot of money in that. It just wasn't for me. But going to vending shows or doing anything else, I knew that my energy, I knew the type of customer I wanted.

Janan McDougal [: 00:24:16

I was very clear on that. I wanted to have a. Ultimately I wanted to have a corporate customer. And though I know that on day one I wasn't going to have that, I needed to be able to align myself so that I could get that corporate customer, get that corporate client. So I started to position myself. And so when I went out to get to establish, you know, just networking relationships, my centers of influence were. I chose, you know, they were, they were very strategically chosen, I would say. And those partnerships grew to a place where that is where most of the doors, the big doors open.

Janan McDougal [: 00:24:53

For me, the big doors didn't open from social media. The big doors didn't open from word of mouth, just organic word of mouth. It, they, they, the big stuff started to come when my centers of influence, they began, they became my mouthpiece because at that point they knew that they could rely on the person that they were getting ready to refer because they don't. Nobody wants to refer someone that's going to drop the ball and not do right by them. So they became my mouthpiece. And that was, I mean, that's an easy sell. Just as soon as someone says, oh, go check them out, this you is going to start the business. All you got to do is just deliver in just the same way that.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:25:33

You have now that center of influence piece. Like how do you network or create those relationships in order for that to happen? Because I'm hearing you say that this happened because of this here, but let's say somebody like myself who doesn't. I'm just starting out. I don't. I want that corporate client like you say that corporate. Listen, them corporate clients got that corporate money, right? So how does. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 00:26:02

When you say I didn't try to go mass all these things, I went to specific ones who could give me a mask exactly like you said. That's a good question.

Janan McDougal [: 00:26:11

Yeah. So what I did is I started to find. Because I was already connected in a professional realm, in by itself, you know, from my previous career. I started to Lean on some of those contacts. And I started to say what's going on in the, you know, what's happening out here? Because I was no longer now in the finance world, so that didn't, I couldn't even go to a convention or go to a conference or somewhere that they're talking about that. But if there were any like empowerment or motivational events that were happening, I made sure that I was there and I leaned on my connections that I already had. Now the whole, you know, me saying that I was a name drop, I would name drop like a mug and I would be like, oh yeah, you know, such and such. I know them.

Janan McDougal [: 00:26:58

And it would, it would really just the barriers would fall and you know, I mean, definitely I, you know, you just got to do what you got to do. And I knew the people that I was referencing, but that just allowed me to get a little bit closer because I think that when you enter it into a conversation and it looks like it's self serving, it feels like it's self serving, you know, the blocks come up.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:27:20

Yeah.

Janan McDougal [: 00:27:20

But if it feels organic, if it feels like, okay, I know this person or somebody sent me or somebody sent her that, you know, that I know and that I trust and we're just having a really good organic conversation, what happens is, is that later on when they have the need, they're like, oh yeah, I had a really good conversation with that person. So that was really my angle and my strategy.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:27:43

Okay.

ShySpeaks [: 00:27:44

Yeah. So I feel like I'm asking a lot of questions because I got a.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:27:48

Lot of, you know, no, you good.

ShySpeaks [: 00:27:50

But okay, so you were saying that's your strategy and incentives of influence. So what I like to do when I'm listening, I try to give real world examples for someone who may not be in your specific niche, but something that I've seen done previously. So I remember another guy in Dallas, he, he had a print shop and he knew who his target client, who he wanted to go after. He wanted to be sports apparel has to get printed from somebody. So he had to position himself, which what you talked about earlier. And we going to go back to like what do you, how do you position yourself to even get those type of clients? Because that's some back office stuff and I like to take people behind the brand. Right. But what he did, instead of just trying to, to go out here and like you trying to sell like to all these different people one by one by one by one by one by one by one by one and the next thing you know, you'll have 10,000 people or you can go to the sports industry.

ShySpeaks [: 00:28:43

And when I sell, when I, when I network and I convert, come up with some kind of deal with this one person, they're going to be able to get me to do all the shirts for all 10 teams in the little league, right? So now each team has 15 to 20 students on it. And so I now have, let's say, just say 20, and it's 10 teams. Now I'm doing 200 at this time because I went to one person to get the 200 instead of just trying to, you see. So I want to make sure that that's clear. And I saw him do that.

Janan McDougal [: 00:29:15

He.

ShySpeaks [: 00:29:16

And that, that would, that is what you were referencing as centers of influence. Who is in influence in the target market that I'm trying to reach. I want to be able to print all your stuff because it's not just your jersey. You're going to need your little warm up gear, you're gonna need your practice stuff, you're gonna need the sweat, you know, this jumpsuit for when it's cold outside. And I want to be printing, I want to be the person that's printing all of that for you. And so he went and strategically got in places because you would think, well, I'm gonna just go. You can't just sell it to the one student. That's not gonna be enough.

ShySpeaks [: 00:29:49

You have to go where the influence is. So I love that, that piece.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:29:54

And like you said that corporate, they always need, they need something, right? Whether it's polos for all the staff, whether it's T shirts for this event or whatever the case may be. So that's a, that's, that's a perpetual.

Janan McDougal [: 00:30:07

It is not only that. I mean it's business that just does not, you know, it doesn't dry, dry up. But in addition to that, those are people to too. And people don't like change. So if that person is familiar with you when they need something for themselves or their family reunion, who are they calling? They're calling you. Because the last thing I'm about to do is go try to find out somewhere else when this is working just fine. And so you know that those, those companies really become that corporate business becomes a whole lot of individual business. And it's just a pyramid of just service that you could provide to everybody.

ShySpeaks [: 00:30:44

Wow. I love it. Okay, now I told the people I was going to go behind the brand. This is the mind of my creative business podcast. So we said we going behind the brand. Take us into the back office. So we know we went from the basement to the studio or to the shop. We know we.

ShySpeaks [: 00:31:00

We went from doing, you know, onesie twosies to about 4,000 sales. Then eventually we get into more sales. Okay, but there are some things that I have to do on the back end to position myself to get those clients. When you say that, is it like, tell us, give us some examples of what are some. Is it some things that you have to apply for? Is there some things you have to submit? Is there some things, some systems you have to buy, some processes that you have to implement? What is that on the back end so that you can be attractive to the type of client that you're looking to attract?

Janan McDougal [: 00:31:33

So that was a good question about the systems and the processes, because I found that when you are YouTube, you can find anything. YouTube University, right? And you can find out how to start a business. You can find out what you need, all the preliminary stuff. You know, you get your paperwork together, your tax ID number together. You got all of that, and all that information is there. What I did not find was what happens when the business is growing rapidly, what happens now?

ShySpeaks [: 00:32:03

Right.

Janan McDougal [: 00:32:03

So I had to navigate that space and I'm like, okay, one is like, oh, that's a good problem to have. And it is a good problem to have until it's not.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:32:11

Right, Right.

Janan McDougal [: 00:32:12

Because then you can really implode. You know, a lot of companies, they get to a place where, you know, they are. They're in their infantry state and then they get to the growth phase and they got rapid growth. And then a lot of people stop before they actually get to the peak of it, because either the owner is burnt out because they're doing too much and they're not delegating, or they don't even have the staffing to delegate to handle the business that they have. They haven't scaled properly. They don't have the processes and the systems in place in order to make sure that they can scale properly. And so that was. I had to navigate that space for a long time.

Janan McDougal [: 00:32:50

That was a. That was a period of maybe about a good couple years of like, oh, shoot, like, I got all of these orders. My writing down orders on that's not working for me anymore. I can't keep them in my notes, in my phone anymore. I actually need a CRM. I need to be able to be able to take, or not only take the orders. I need to be able to follow up with the customer. I need to be able to provide invoicing.

Janan McDougal [: 00:33:17

And I need to be able to provide reports at the end of the year for my tax advisor. And so there was a lot of different things that I was like, I didn't realize I had to have set up and I had to learn in real time. And it was very evident that I had to learn it in real time when the one thing that I was doing in order to get all of this business that I realized that, oh, I see how people don't give a call back because they're drowning and they can't call back, and there's not enough time in the day. And so I. That's when I said, I need some. A, I need some help, and B, I needed to. To fire myself, honestly, because too often, as the owner, you're so attached to the business. It's your baby.

Janan McDougal [: 00:34:06

You want to make sure that it's growing, you want to make sure it's surviving, that it's sustaining, and nobody else is going to take care of yours like you are. But I was. I became a bottleneck, and everything had to go through me for approval. But if I had a thousand things on my list, it might have been important to you to approve, but that's number 999 on my list. And I still got to get through the other things that are equally as important to other people. And so realizing that, I said, okay, that in order for me to do this for real, for real, on a big level, on the level that I imagine, I got to remove myself and I have to take myself to not working in the business, but you got to working on it and more. So being the visionary and the one that's bringing forth the creative ideas and. And the structure, while the people that I put in place, that they are handling and maintaining the roles in which they have.

Janan McDougal [: 00:35:02

It took me a while to get there, though.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:35:04

Yeah. No, I mean, the fact that you were able to see that, where it's like, okay, I have a million things to do, and I can't solely do them. I need some assistance to be able to come in to assist me so that once again, it's still getting done, but it ain't got to be done by me. And like I said, that's a lot of times a lot of people don't understand that. Right. And listen, I ain't gonna front. I still struggle with that at times. Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:35:29

It's like. There's times where it's like, okay, do I really got to do this, or can I delegate this? And if I don't delegate this, is this something that can be automated as Shy likes to do. You know what I'm saying? So it's like learning that, understanding that. But you wouldn't have learned that if you didn't go through it.

Janan McDougal [: 00:35:44

If I didn't go through it.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:35:44

So that's the thing where it's like a lot of these things we try to avoid, but it's like, no, you got to go through it to learn it, to know that this is what I need. And that's going to make you better and the business better in the long run, for sure.

Janan McDougal [: 00:35:56

Yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 00:35:57

You know, I wanted to start the mind in my creative business podcast because I am a creative, but my background is more on the structure side. It's the system side. It's the logistics, it's the operations. And being a creative myself, I've been in a position that you've been in, and like many other creatives, it's not just with the print shop. What about when I make cupcakes and all of a sudden I'm getting orders out the wazoo? What about when I do balloons and I say, oh, and now I'm all of a sudden all these parties and I. You see, because with creativity, unlike other business models, and that's why this podcast is important, is because they can tell you on those other podcasts about general business, and you kind of start the business with scale in mind. With creativity, you don't necessarily have to have all these systems and structure and personnel and people in place to get started. You do not need systems to start, but you do need them to scale.

ShySpeaks [: 00:36:54

Scale. You do not need help to start, but you do need help to scale. And also, it's not like my goal is to scale. Sometimes the goal is just simply to meet the demand that my company has started to generate. I'm not even over here thinking about, okay, how I'm going to scale. I'm going to level up. I'm about to go to this big building. I'm just trying to meet the demand.

ShySpeaks [: 00:37:14

And in order for me to meet the demand, I literally have to automate something. I literally can't manually send this invoice. I literally can't. I can't be the person answering this question because I have to go to this meeting to talk to another person who's in my center of influence, who's going to give me another thousand good T shirts at a time and back on TV and all you see. So I can't. I literally just cannot. I'm just trying to meet the demand. I'm not Even here, trying to scale.

ShySpeaks [: 00:37:38

And so I think that. And my hope is that during this podcast that people are listening to six, seven, eight figure business and thinking, oh, they. That's the thing that they got started with their creativity. And then at some point, they realize, oh, I got to keep up, and I can't keep up at this rate, and I have to go in on the back end and change things so that as they're starting, they're starting with the end in mind, you know, they're starting with a little bit more of what, you know, like what you wish you would have known. Like, oh, I probably should have this in place so as it gets busy, it'll already be there, you know?

Janan McDougal [: 00:38:12

So, yeah, I know that. I felt one of the things, big, biggest lessons for me, and it's really a hard lesson, really, it is a hard lesson for my fellow creatives and entrepreneurs out there that you're either running a business or you're ruining it. And the only difference is the eye you remove that. I was like, ouch, say it again.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:38:36

I need to repeat that for the people in the back.

Janan McDougal [: 00:38:38

Either running it or you're ruining it. And I. And the eye is the only thing that is separating the two. And it's like, okay, if I remove the eye, then I remove the problem, because even though I created it, I have become the problem. Once you realize that, honey, life gets sweeter because my ears turned off and every problem. I used to be ear hustling. I used to be like, what's going on? What's going on? Now I'm like, you know what? I can't. I gotta turn my ears off.

Janan McDougal [: 00:39:09

I gotta close my door. I just have to mind my famous saying at the shop. I gotta mind the business that pays me. Yeah, I'm leaving y'all alone. Y'all gotta figure this out, because I can't do it anymore.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:39:18

And that's the thing, too, where it goes back to if you hire the right people. Right? I'm hiring you because you have a skillset. Right? I'm hiring you because you have the character. I'm hiring you because you have these things that, okay, I can trust you to do it. So I don't need to micromanage. I don't need to be in it as much as part of you wants to. But like I said, I want to be in it because this is my baby. I created this.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:39:44

I, you know, all the eyes, eyes, eyes. But it's like, okay, I gotta. I like that. It's like either running or Ruining it. And just the eye. Take that eye out of there so you can run it. I love it. Yeah, that's a bar.

ShySpeaks [: 00:39:56

Okay. So you took the eye out, right. And you got out of the way of the business. You started letting things go a different way than how you would have do it. Now we're doing it the way it needs to be done. To serve these clients may not be how we want to do it, but this is what we have to do to keep up with this, because the business has a mission, not necessarily just your mission. So you step back and you're now able to be this visionary, you're able to be this creative and so forth and so on. Is that like, stepping back? Is that when you realize, like, oh, I can make more impact and start thinking about we.

ShySpeaks [: 00:40:30

Right. You move that. You know what I'm saying?

Janan McDougal [: 00:40:32

Yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 00:40:33

When you started or have you always known that I want to, like, give back in some kind of way and make some kind of impact with my business, or did it coincide with that?

Janan McDougal [: 00:40:44

I think it kind of coincided, really, because here I was in a place where I needed to have a. I needed to have a strong team, and I knew that I didn't want to be on the production room floor forever. In order for me to be able to train up a small. A strong team, I needed to be able to make sure that they were trained up under either me or the people that I trained, because I am meticulous about the stuff. And I. And I'm like. And everybody knows, you know, you have a shirt come out, and everybody's like, is there a mistake on that? And I'm like, yep, scrap it. And it's like, I didn't even see the mistake.

Janan McDougal [: 00:41:19

And I'm like, nope. You know, the customer. I didn't even see it. And I'm like, no, I could see it. And because I could see it, the quality is extremely important. So I really, like, I try to hone in on that big time with my team. And so I wanted to make sure that the new people that were going to be coming in to help me, that they had to. They had to have the foundation.

Janan McDougal [: 00:41:39

And I realized that when I as I was help. As the customers were coming in, and I started to notice that it was a merch, merch this merce that, you know, I mean, for the last few years, all you hear from the young folks is, merch, merch, merch. And it became such a thing that it's like, well, you know what? Let me show you how to create Your own merch. And in order for me to show you how to create your own merch, let me show you how much that stuff really costs, you know, and let me show you how you can take this little bitty money and turn it into something a lot larger than that in the way of disguising it and kind of like, you know, you making the vegetables, you know, with you cover, covering them up with sprinkles and all of that stuff. And so, you know, talking about this, you know, boring business building stuff, I'm like, let's create a creative design and T shirt printing program where we can now give pour into the youth that have this interest in merch, that have this interest in. I know I want to do something, you know, I know I want to wear something of my own. And they just don't have any type of idea of how to get it started or that it seems so much bigger than them. And don't get me wrong, I mean, when I started it was $500 to start to get my equipment.

Janan McDougal [: 00:42:54

I know with inflation and all that stuff that is probably three to four times higher than that today. But today we have something that we didn't have before. There are ways where systems and things can be automated, where all you have to do is really conceptually come up with the idea, have another printing fulfillment center, print, fulfill it, ship it, you don't touch it, you're making money in your sleep. And so I try to give the youth those things also that, you know, it's not a matter of just come to the, just come to the printheads and come get all your work done or come to the printheads to come through our program. But let me show you, let me teach you how to fish. Right?

ShySpeaks [: 00:43:31

So you, you were starting to thinking like, I want to be able to train up some people who maybe because the people who are going to come work and intern and they're, they're interested but they need to be trained. So it's like, let me start training, training them early. Or was it like also I just keep hearing this from them about their merch and I know I'm in that world and I need to get in there.

Janan McDougal [: 00:43:54

Yeah, so it was a, it was a combination of the two. So when the, when the young people would come in and they had their money saved up that they didn't, you know, maybe it's a refund, checks from school, I don't know. But they brought, they came on in and they were ready to start and they were excited. I knew that they were so on fire that they were asking about internship opportunities. And I said, okay, well, there's a need there. And then when I started to talk to some other young folks and they lit up, they were. I mean, they were just like, oh, my God, I get to print a shirt. And I took something that was so regular to me, so every day, and I discounted it.

Janan McDougal [: 00:44:32

And I was just like, you get excited about printing a shirt, like it's just a shirt. But I realized that it's not every day for everybody. And everybody can't just go and just, ta da, let me get a custom something and wear it. And so when I realized how special that was to someone else, then I said, okay, this is something that I want to teach people so that they can actually have a sense of ownership whether they decide to do it right now themselves, or whether they decide to do it. They decide to go to college and they want to do it as a side hustle, whether they want to start a full on merch business or whether they want to say, you know what? I at least know it when I start a business. I understand the process. I understand that branding is important because we go through all of that, which I know that we're. We haven't really gone into the Printhead University, which is the nonprofit version, nonprofit side of the Printheads.

Janan McDougal [: 00:45:25

And that is.

ShySpeaks [: 00:45:27

So we're talking about what you started doing. But can you give people the name?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:45:31

Before we go there, though, I don't want y'all to miss the fact that she said that she. It was a minimization or devaluing, because this is. This is what I do. This ain't that deep. So what's common to you isn't common to everybody. What comes easy for you.

Janan McDougal [: 00:45:47

Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:45:47

Doesn't come easy for everybody. So you have value in that, right? I have something that I can offer and give that comes this simple. Let's just print a shirt. But for somebody that's big, like, I can take an idea and a vision, put on a shirt and sell it and make what?

Janan McDougal [: 00:46:02

Yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:46:02

So I don't want. I don't want people. I don't want y'all to miss that. So the skills that y'all got, that come easy and simple to y'all, that y'all discount all the time. But just because you discount to come easy don't mean it's not valuable. So. Okay, I just want to put that out there. Go ahead.

ShySpeaks [: 00:46:18

So, because I knew as a person, you know, as a good host, you know, we're going to look into the person we're going to be interviewing. We said what, what all is this person doing? So we know we have the printheads and I told you we was going to come back and talk about this impact side because I knew from research that you had started a non profit aspect of what you're doing. And so we just kind of like you said, we started talking about it. But let's call it what it is.

Janan McDougal [: 00:46:41

You call it what the Printheads University. Yes. T shirt. Right?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:46:47

C as in T shirt. Love it, love it, love it.

ShySpeaks [: 00:46:49

I was like that's a cool name.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:46:51

Yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 00:46:52

Okay, so you started it because you, it's for, for layer a number of reasons. Okay, so now my question is.

Janan McDougal [: 00:47:02

I.

ShySpeaks [: 00:47:02

Guess at this point, now that you, you, you started it. Okay, so is it only for like is there a business benefit to having a non profit as well for or is it. I don't really care about the business benefits. I really do it because I saw it as the light bulb moment for those students and a way to train. Or is it a bit of both?

Janan McDougal [: 00:47:27

Yeah, it's absolutely both. You know the. I believe that when I hear the words that your gifts will make room for you. That is, that kind of fits in that context because you are, you are allowing your gifts to create something and that gift that is creating something is able to now take root play. You're planting seeds can take root and it can sprout into, I mean a forest for so many other people simultaneously though, while that forest is fostering, generating, growing and doing all of it, all of the things you are reaping the rewards of some of that shade that's starting to happen now. You starting to get some of that, you know, you're getting some of that covering from the forest and it's a. So it is mutually beneficial. There are certainly some advantages that come along with having a non profit and a for profit business.

Janan McDougal [: 00:48:30

And there are advantages really being able to, you know, if you have a really strong tax professional, being able to figure out ways where you can generate business for you know, both the nonprofit and the for profit business and without it necessarily being self serving, you know, all the time. And so I think that that's just one of the benefits. It's one of your rewards for, for pouring into other people, you get to get a little bit of that harvest. Right.

ShySpeaks [: 00:48:58

We know that nonprofits don't exist to make profit.

Janan McDougal [: 00:49:02

Right.

ShySpeaks [: 00:49:03

And so but they do have operating costs. You know what I mean? I would say there's profit there there's teams, there's people that has to be paid, there's resources, all those types of things. How do you currently sustain that business model? And you can give me just really quickly because we know how you sustain printheads. We saw the glow up from the basement to the production house. But just now that you have this university, how do you sustain it and just so that he can kind of, you know, maintain and keep it afloat.

Janan McDougal [: 00:49:31

Well, that's a good question. So you know, outside of just going out to getting funding and starting the whole process all over again, networking, making sure that you are strategically positioning yourself with the right people, that when the money comes available, who do I think about? I think about that person right there. So you know, that right there, I think that's, that's, you know, that's, that goes without saying. But with the Printhead University just being able to. Sorry, I forgot the question.

ShySpeaks [: 00:50:00

Yeah, sorry. Because we're about to wrap up here in the same way. So I was just basically saying, we know how you're saying print heads because you know, with the business and all. But how do you, a non profit has to say it's float. So how do you.

Janan McDougal [: 00:50:14

Yeah, okay, I got you.

ShySpeaks [: 00:50:15

How do you maintain it? Yeah, what do you got? And there has to be some kind of financial transaction there so that it can sustain.

Janan McDougal [: 00:50:23

Okay, so you know, naturally with nonprofit organizations, no, we don't have the, you know, the profit coming in. But what we do have is we have volunteers, we have, we have the printheads that donates quite a lot of things, which is a tax benefit to the printheads for being able to donate to the Printhead University. So you know, then that, that's what I mean as far as using some, you get to reap some of those rewards. So you know, in your time, in your service, in your donations and things like that, there are ways to offset some of the income that you may be generating on another side, which can cause you some tax savings. So those are really some of the strategies and the things that we're using in order to be able to sustain. But just continuously getting out here and getting in front of the right people and making sure that we're making the right connection so that we can grow the program as large as we can, so that we can get as many of our youth, at least entrepreneurial minded, whether they decide to take that step or not, at least they understand how it works. Because you can operate, you can use an entrepreneur's mindset. Anything that you do in life mean anything yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:51:35

And what I'm hearing you say, like, just that initial piece where there was a level of intention. It's like, okay, listen, I don't want to do what I've been doing. I want to do something different. I didn't know what it fully was. But you moved, right? You didn't wait until you had it all figured out. You said, I'm going to move, and as I move, I'll figure it out. Then as you figured it out, it got clearer. Then you were able to then add some more to it.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:52:03

Okay, there. I just don't want to do T shirts, but I want to do it for this particular ideal audience. I want to do B2B. I want to go business to business. Not saying that you don't have individuals that you work with because you said you do this. It's like the people that I'm doing business for, they people. So they still come to me for individual stuff as well. You know what I'm saying? So just seeing that whole process is life is phenomenal, where it's like, okay, intention, moving and moving and leaping, taking a leap of faith, networking.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:52:33

You know, I'm saying relationship building as I build relationships, receiving feedback on what it is that they want. So I'm taking that feedback in. And now I'm now, okay, oh, give me a call back. I can do that. But understanding that now as I'm growing, I'm now getting inundated. So now I have to remove the I out of my business so I don't ruin it so I can run it. Right? And then from there, it's like, okay, yeah, I'm just seeing all that. And it's just.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:53:01

It's a strategy. You know what I'm saying? It's a strategy. And along in that strategy and on that journey, okay, we had to put systems in place because now, because more is happening, I can't do all this. So I need to hire somebody or I need to have a CRM. I need to have something that can do invoicing. I need to have all these things that can help me mind my creative business.

ShySpeaks [: 00:53:24

Yeah, I mean, I love it. I already knew I was going to love talking to you because you named your nonprofit university, Right. And that's a bar, you know, like, very creative right there. And so. And then it's, you know, from print heads, I even like that. And how you call your customers and clients to repeat one of their print heads. And I just like the whole branding within the brand. And I just knew you would have so much to share for people who are interested in that space and like what you do with your, with your non profit, even if they weren't interested in being in the print space.

ShySpeaks [: 00:53:58

Some of the tips and tools and things that she shared can be applied in anything. So thank you, thank you. Thank you so much. We really, really appreciate it.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:54:06

Yeah. So thank you. Also, we want to thank you all for spending time listening. Right. Hopefully you all got something from this. We want to encourage you join the Creatives Corner community. So go to MMCB, that's MMCBpodcast.com and be a part of the Creatives Corner community where there's a newsletter and there's a Facebook group with other creative entrepreneurs like yourself. Okay? So do that and do all the other things like share, comment, all the things so that we can continue to grow this phenomenal podcast and it gets out to more people like yourself.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:54:47

Shy, I'm going to give it to you.

ShySpeaks [: 00:54:48

All right, So I love you listening and we thank you for it, but we also want you to be active and one of the things you can be active in doing is actually speaking well over yourself about how you can apply all things here. So say the mantra that we say at the end of every episode. Okay, I got you. Everybody here, we're going to say it all together. You're going to say it online and we're going to be out. So all it takes, all it takes is intention.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:55:13

Is intention, Consistency, consistency, laser focus. And laser focus.

ShySpeaks [: 00:55:19

To mind my creative business.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:55:20

To mind my creative business. Peace.