Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Donald Carlson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Donald, appreciate you joining us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

My first client! This was so great and gave me a lot of motivation. Those who don’t know I started TWEEDS out of a 16 foot box truck that I built a suit shop into. I would park the truck around downtown Sarasota, open the doors and hope somebody would come in a buy a custom suit. After a few days of doing that I was parked outside of Kahwa coffee and a gentlemen and now friend walked into the truck and had me measure him for a custom jacket. I closed the deal on the spot and that was my first sale! I was ready for many more after that :) It is so great when people give you a chance and you can exceed their expectations!

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

I spent most of my life inside of a dry cleaning business. My parents owned Carlson Cleaners in Sarasota and I would spend a lot of my time as a younger child helping my Dad age the dry cleaning plant. It was always so much fun and gave me a great work ethic. After high school, I worked at Universal Studios as a full time magician and was fired from that job after 6 months :( I didn’t know where I would go from there so I asked my Dad if I can come work for him but instead of cleaning clothes in the plant I decided to knock on doors and try to sign people up to our free pick up & delivery service for all of your dry cleaning & laundry needs. I did that from 2012 – 2019 and built up the route to a fairly decent size! When I left we had 6 vans on the road picking up and delivering dry cleaning. In 2019 I got burnt out from the dry cleaning business and decided to buy a 16 foot box truck, build a suit shop inside and started a custom clothing company. Now we have a store in Downtown Sarasota and we are opening a store next to Oxford Exchange in Tampa!

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

When I first started TWEEDS I was hungry (still am) for business. No one knew what TWEEDS was so I had to go out and make it happen! I have a background on knocking on doors so I would take the truck all over town and knock on doors all day long trying to sell suits. I was knocking on doors one day and finally came across a really good lead. The gentlemen said he has done custom clothing in the past and was actually in the market for a custom suit. He was open to the idea of coming out to the truck and getting measured up so we did & I sold him a custom suit on the spot. It was such a great feeling. Every no brings you closer to a YES!

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I am personally a big fan of Grant Cardone and his 10X mindset. I personally attend several events per year and I send my style consultants down to his events as well. I highly recommend finding a mentor and going on all in on his/her philosophies. Also, going to business conferences can help you get realigned with your goals and network with people who have built really big businesses.

Contact Info:

• Website: tweedssuitshop.com
• Instagram: tweedssuitshop