Upsize is a magazine with a single mission: to help Minnesota's small-business owners build bigger and more profitable companies, and to connect CEOs with the people, products and ideas they need to grow.
Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/233484
ll lessons i learned From www.upsizemag.com, December 2010 • January 2011 jeff taxdahl Thread Logic »» "We provide logo-decorated apparel, primarily selling and distributing online. We finished 2010 at $1.2 million. Over the last four years we averaged about 20 percent per year growth; 2009 to 2010 was about 8 percent. If we grow how we think we will this year, we might add a second shift, probably a partial one. It depends on our commitment to our turnaround times and the stress level we can handle. »» I was hired as a corporate communications manager for a technology company in Edina. The first day on the job the board fired the CEO that hired me. That was a shock. Consequently, they went through a re-organization, and four months after I was one of 40 people let go. But looking back it was the best thing that could have happened to me. Up until recently I've had the letter letting me go hanging in my office, and lately I've been tempted to write a thank you letter to that vice president. »» We started Thread Logic from zero. It was something I felt was a good fit for my skill set. It has a low barrier to entry, too. I started with $50,000, buying a machine, buying a computer. I took a loan against a life insurance policy; I had some money that was a personal gift; and I had some savings. This was in January 2002. »» When I was looking at the industry, I talked to people that were in it and asked them what it takes to be successful. I asked the question to a guy who was selling the machines. He said, I can tell anyone how to run the machines; the hard part is sales and marketing and running the business. Eight years later I think that statement is absolutely true, not just for my business but any business. »» Traditionally in this business you expand by adding sales people and I wasn't interested in doing that, partially because I'm a control guy, and partially because it's very common in this industry that salespeople jump from company to company and take their book of business with them. »» It was my brother that suggested the Internet. I remember the first time he brought it up, I said no I won't do that. My perception was it was all price-driven, you had to be the low-price leader, and it was all transaction-driven, and I like to build relationships. »» We didn't launch the site until the summer of 2005. It took me a year to build the site. We make a custom product. It's a complicated transaction. I had to figure out how can I make this as easy as possible for people to do business with us. »» It was the fall of 2005 that I figured out, this isn't a build it and they will come proposition. You have to drive traffic. We started that in fall of 2005. 2006 our revenue was 117 percent higher than 2005. »» It was during that process when I had a revelation. I thought, nobody knows my busi- photos by Jonathan Hankin ness as well as I do. And I figured out this was a marketing problem, not a technology problem. When people think of the Internet they think it's about technology. »» This is an incredibly unsexy industry and it's been around for a long time and it's very stable but I've been able to come in and pull some market share in my direction. You don't always have to look for the new and greatest thing. You can get into established industries and create a good business for yourself." 28 upsize december 2013 • january 2014 www.upsizemag.com