We were lucky to catch up with Derek Holmes Jr recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Derek thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

Building a business from scratch has its plethora of challenges. I’ve ran into a few still have somewhat of a lingering effect today. The first one was that I started my business without any loans or outside funding. All of the funding came out of my pocket via disposable income from my full-time job at the time and my savings. I had no idea what I was in for. I found out quick I was going to need to be creative to survive. I taught myself graphic design to save on paying someone for every design or concept. When I would sell my shirts at pop-ups and markets, I would only take 6 shirts per design. Sometimes I only had enough cash to produce 18-20 shirts to sell on the weekend. But I knew for me it was about the long game, and that I eventually wanted to sell them in bulk to local stores, museums, etc. Without any sort of funding other than my own, I learned early it was going to take some effective time management on the creative end to start driving the revenue.

The second issue I run into periodically is two words small business absolutely hate…NET 30. I am a small business with limited resources. That being said, I’m sure it’s every small business’s dream to get the ‘Big Deal’. As the deals and orders get larger, the payment terms sometimes tend to get more ‘interesting’. I’ll never forget someone once told me it’s one thing to send an invoice, it’s another thing to get paid. Each time I come across a prospective client that pushes Net 30 payment terms, my solution is to simply ask to meet half way and have the client pay a 50% deposit. Deposits allow me to keep things moving in all facets of my company as opposed to my operations being jammed up due to coming out of pocket for a Net 30 order.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

In 2018, I started 25 Thoughts with a primary focus on producing black themed greeting cards that represented my culture. My wife and I were out looking for holiday cards one day and couldn’t find anything that looked nor sounded like us in the greeting isle, so we went home and designed them ourselves. I figured I couldn’t be the only one in this dilemma and figured, why not start a company on the side!

The first person I paid to design a greeting card for me never actually supplied me with a design. As I mentioned before, this company was being funded solely out of my pocket. So, I purchased some Adobe programs and begin teaching myself graphic design. It’s comical where I started to where I am now. Once I started feeling more confident in designing greeting cards, I didn’t see why I couldn’t take similar concepts and put them on a t-shirt. I would take my personal laptop and leave in my bookbag in my car at work. On my lunch breaks, I’d go to Panera or Starbucks and just pitch local political campaigns on campaign themed thank you cards. After I reached out to all the campaigns, I would work on t-shirt designs to sell at the weekend markets. I like to joke and say I built my company 1 one-hour lunch break at a time.

I would say I’m most proud of the growth, progression, and resiliency. In terms of growth, my graphics went from being laughed at in 2018 to being used for the Super Bowl in 2021. I started the company focusing on greeting cards, however, today my product line now includes the full spectrum of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing to accessories and even drinkware.

With respect to progression, what started as a part-time hobby, has now turned into my full-time job as of 2020. There was a time that my products were only available at the local weekend markets in Tampa. As of today, my products are now available in roughly 60 stores and organizations across the country with clients that include some of the most prestigious museums in our country, golf courses, boutiques, and civic organizations.

As it pertains to resiliency, oh boy, I have taken some Ls! I’m grateful for the steps back that comes along with running a business. For reach step back, it was always a step forward in another direction. I pride myself on the fact that I’ve been able to take constructive criticism and turn it into opened doors of opportunity.. Many of the stores that carry my merchandise today, I remember when they said no in 2019.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In the 4 1/2 years that I’ve run 25 Thoughts, I’ve had to significantly pivot the focus/product offering twice to keep things afloat. I started the company as a greeting card business, however, I learned quick and fast that the market for retail greeting cards wasn’t quite what I had thought it was. That being said, in order to stay in business, I knew I had to change the focus of the greeting cards while also offering another core product. Instead of focusing on retail cards, I focused solely on high volume holiday cards for affinity groups, civic organizations, businesses, and political campaigns. Offering another core product was must, and that is how my clothing line was born.

The other pivot came during the pandemic. Towards the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, museum gift shops were really starting to become my client base. When the museums closed up, I begin to look into what locally owned establishments that carried apparel remained open. This is when I started to focus on golf courses and boutiques. Although they may have operated on modified hours and restrictions, I’m not sure if they ever really “closed”. Living in a market like Tampa, I was fortunate that locals and regional tourists were still flocking to the beach and still playing golf.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The major thing I had to unlearn that I think has expanded my company is I don’t need to throw my logo on every piece of clothing or merchandise. Branding is so much more than a singular image. It’s the artistic style that I use in design. It’s the types of fabric I use for clothing. It all makes up my style, my brand. I don’t have to throw the 25 Thoughts star logo on everything. I’ve noticed more buyers being receptive to my concepts without constantly having to see a logo. As one buyer told me, “our clients don’t want to feel like a billboard.”

Contact Info:

• Website: 25thoughts.com
• Instagram: real25thoughts
• Facebook: Facebook.com/25Thoughts
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com › derek-holmes-jr-2aa67a48

Image Credits
Last two photos – Model: Renata Mikae’ Photographer: Joshua Mack