Accidental Gentleman is a small company that was formed by two gentlemen and myself along with some graduate professionals who decided to unite their actions to create a company focused on providing high quality screen-printed custom designed ties to companies, organizations, individuals and highly creative people.
The Goal Of Accidental Gentleman
The objective was to display the personalities of the people the ties belong to. By providing uniquely designed ties rather than just the standard basic tie of the industry. The project itself has been quite an enjoyable experience. Working with a team of people who are very passionate about their skills-set from Marketing to Design and Hands-on-Production and Merchandising we have enriched our knowledge on product industries.
The overall goal of the project is for us all to gain some experience with a company and run it with a team that lacks of an extensive experience in the professional field. Since making some money is part of the goal we have been highly involved with organizations supporting entrepreneurs and allowing them to get involved in competing against other entrepreneurs for cash winnings. We have also worked with some companies to get high quality merchandise. We took the next step to get involved with Kickstarter.com and built a campaign around our company hoping to get a little bit of cash capital behind us and some backers to help support our business.
Results Of The Project
We were happy to report that we earned about $8000 and built a shop in one of the partners’ garages where we could produce ties-by-hand on our own and have all the supplies needed to run the business effectively. We have found that we managed to generate awesome sales online to personal connection sales with large companies such as Zion’s Bank and other local businesses to small hand sales at events and festivals in Utah state. These events are great and support crafty people and entrepreneurs looking to design unique items for the crowds.
Skills I Have Used On The Accidental Gentleman Project
I have focused specifically on being part of the business & marketing team supporting that segment of the business. The skills that I have used are the following:
- Web & Graphic Design
- SEO
- Social Media Marketing (Lightly)
- General Marketing
- Business Development
- Financial Analysis
- System Management
In general, we have developed marketing presentations and generated sales at events. I have offered business consulting for the other key partners on methods they can use to help increase their sales.
The Lessons I Have Learned
I’ve come to see throughout this project so much of what it means to be an entrepreneur. What it takes to fully invest a good amount of one’s time to a project that may not a be a million dollar project, but a project that a team of highly motivated individuals can make great. More specifically, I have learnt about the way a business functions when selling its products online and I was also able to learn some skills-sets that I currently don’t have the chance to learn about at my present job. I believe that the lessons I am learning with this group of people are going to help me in life.