Aus einem E-Com-Geschäft eine echte Marke machen

0:00Unternehmer/Gast Do very interesting business. So, tell me about it. What's the problem? Why aren't we growing? So, it's a e-com business. So, we sell clothing. And the clothing is inspired by like Japanese themed anime. So, I just started out of when I created business I had a big vision for it. Like I want to be something more than just a clothing brand. Um so, what I realized is like a lot of people who shop who would shop with us would have similar interests. So, I wanted to create a community around that. So, I started the you know very like creating a Discord community and now we have over 14,000 members. And those people, you know, they're fan fans of the brand. And they'll share similar interests. And they're actually one of our then top converting customers. Like if you were to launch more products

0:42>> sense. Yeah. Yeah. And so >> You built a community and about stuff that they're all interested in sold them stuff related to that. >> Yeah, exactly. And so, what you what I also wanted to do is I wanted to create because they're all anime fans or Japanese culture, I want to create something every now and then as well. So, for example, we created a mascot and we we started putting it on packaging like in the in the orders. And they started learning more to oh, but who is this character? Yeah.

1:07>> And my goal was sort of like I want to like expand her and create a whole universe around her. And then create eventually create like our own anime anime as well. >> Okay. What's the problem? Uh the problem is I'm trying to figure out what I should put my resources to, whether I should focus on scaling the clothing and maximizing that if that's what's bringing in the revenue. Yeah. Or focusing on this sort of like universe building and creating our own characters to later on, you know, create value in other ways which will tie into that clothing and maybe later on I was thinking like creating an NFT project around like the audience as cuz they all have the similar interests, right?

1:47Alex >> Yeah, understood. >> So, I just don't know like which one to focus on. >> So, one is like you have the economic engine in the business which is you sell clothing with a logo on it. I'm just breaking I'm breaking things down to like absolute basics, right? So, you need to keep doing that to be able to pay for the bills to do all the rest of the stuff. Now, everything you described with the universe as far as I'm concerned in the micro is going to be basically media. It's it's it's content basically around this character that allows you to charge a premium and attract more people to the brand, right?

2:19Alex And so, I don't think you need to do either or. I just need you need to think about that as marketing spend. And then you need to make sure that you you you cap it based on return on investment. Mhm. Provided your goal is to make money. Yeah. I mean that I mean that super genuinely. Now, the alternative of this is like I want to go build Disney and have a zillion characters, but like it it it requires a ton of capital in order to do that. And so, in my opinion, what you have been doing has been working really well. And so, I would take if you want to like reinvest capital, take the profit from there and reinvest more in that into building out more cool media for the character that you want uh to build in the lifestyle that you want to represent for your audience. Yeah, but I just know that like down the line this business going to be like you know, what's going to create like generational wealth. Like I know that's what I want to do. Yeah.

3:17>> This original IP. Yeah. But right now there is no return on investment for it. Like I can't see it, right? Just like I'm putting time and money into it, but it's going to pay off like >> Well, that's kind of like a lot of times branding works that way. Like if I make content for 3 years and ask for nothing from people, yeah, my brand is going to be worth something and it is already and I'm like still really early into it. So, but I was able to do that because I had money.

3:45Alex I could not have done that if I I mean I could have done it. I would have to work a lot harder, you know, I could not have done other things etc. So, you have an economic engine which will fund this thing. The thing is is that like you will get a return because if you if if this works the way you want it to work, it should grow. So, if you just pour money into it and more people don't find out about your stuff which doesn't then create more people buying, then it's not working.

4:14So, I think I love the vibe cuz I looked at your stuff. Like it's cool. Um so, like I think more of that is a good thing. And I think that will just create more people who are raving fans in your audience. But the thing that like I get the good thing is that you're a missionary not a mercenary. Like you want to make this thing real and it's awesome. It's cool. I want to make sure that actually happens in the real world and not just in your head. And so like there has to be money attached to it somewhere or you need somebody who really believes in it a ton and will take their money and just risk it for you.

4:45It's either that either you're going to risk your own money or someone else is going to risk it, but it's going to cost money and time to build this. And so, the nice thing is what you want to do is have a symbiotic relation between the character and the and the media that you're building and the way that you monetize. And this is ultimately what you're going to want to do anyways because if the audience that you build that loves this character and stuff doesn't want to ever buy stuff from you, then you're not building the right behaviors anyways. For to achieve scale, Mickey Mouse has to sell shirts, hats, t-shirts, movies.

5:11Alex Right? So, that's I would also study the hell out of Walt Disney. Yeah, I I I've looked into it. Okay, yeah. I would read everything that's ever been written on him. Um and look at it like new age stuff. Look at what Gary's doing with um uh VFriends. He has a whole universe around the different characters. Same concept, but there's commerce there. He's got cards, he's got, you know, shirts, he's got merch, he's got all these other things um to build up the characters. Yeah, I'm doing a lot of like research into NFT projects because like they're able to provide value through storytelling and like making value like creating value out of nothing pretty much. And the just You just never say those words again.

5:53Alex Sorry? I would just never say those words again. No, value out of nothing. No, yeah. Um especially tied to NFTs. Um but yeah, does that make sense? That's what I focus. So, to answer your question, yes, I would invest the cash that I have um as much as you believe cuz it's it's a it's a bet. It's as much as you believe in this. Um but I would make sure that people are still being more attracted to your brand and buy more stuff.

6:19Yeah, you bet. So, if you've hit a revenue ceiling or your entire business relies on you to grow, then I'd love to invite you out to our headquarters here in Vegas to learn how we scale. It's a my team spends 2 days with you to identify the thing that's holding your business back. And so, if that sounds interesting, click book a call and if you're a fit, we'd love to potentially see you out here in Vegas.