We were lucky to catch up with Adam Tanaka recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Adam thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
As much as I wanted to really dive into failures, building systems, leadership, what I’ve learned as a founder, etc., I wanted to have a little fun with this one.
One of my companies is a merch company. Its name was something I’ve always been back and forth on wanting to rebrand and rename, but after seeing how others reacted to the story behind the name, I decided to keep it around for a while.
I started my merch company in 2008, in the middle of a recession, overdrawn $350 in my bank account. Needless to say, I had some friends and family thinking I was crazy….and I think I agree. I was printing shirts on the floor of my studio apartment, holding the screen down with my feet and curing shirts on a baking sheet in my oven.
When I wasn’t printing, I was visiting businesses and making calls the rest of the time. I made a call to one of Nashville’s oldest breweries and made it sound like I was this big merch company, ready to make their dreams happen with their merch. I was not expecting what followed. The guy I got on the phone was the decision maker and jumped right into an order – It was a moment I’ll never forget.
I found myself tripping over my words but holding it together at the same time. As confident as I could be, I answered his questions and was ready to get to work.
At this time, I was still very new and didn’t have a business license or a bank account for the company….I didn’t even have a name. Before hanging up, he asked what name he needs to put on the check when the shirts were delivered. I started sweating bullets and those 6 or 7 seconds of silence felt like hours. I was looking around my living room for what could be a company name, after all, it would be temporary and would take time later to really dial in a good name. My eyes scanned one of my favorite records “The Argument” from one of my all time favorite bands Fugazi. There it was – Life and Limb. I mean, the chorus (if Fugazi even had choruses) was “viva viva viva Life and Limb,” so it made sense in the moment.
I stuttered “It’s life and limb.” All he said was, “Ok?” I quickly jumped in with, “Yes, printing. Life and Limb Printing, because I’m a printing company.”
How I didn’t lose the customer by the end of the call is beyond me, but 15 years later, they still choose to stick around.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a long-time founder and serial entrepreneur, dedicated to making a positive impact through a range of creative ventures. I’m passionate about the power of merch branding, childhood mental health awareness, and community collaboration.
In 2004, I moved to Nashville, TN and shortly after, began working in the screen printing department of a merch company. My job included scrubbing floors, cleaning ink buckets, and maintaining screens and had the lowest paid position at the company. I worked my way up through several different departments and realized there were needs that were not being met in this industry.
After leaving the merch company (twice) and going on a couple of tours playing drums in various bands, I started a screen printing company in 2008 – while being overdrawn $350 in my bank account, in the middle of a recession. I started in the worst way you could possibly start a screen printing company, by holding the screens down with my feet and curing shirts on a baking sheet in an oven. Every piece of equipment I needed, I would build it from scraps – All inside my small carriage house above a dilapidated garage.
I would cold call various businesses and finally locked down my first real customer, a Nashville brewery that wanted 200 shirts in a week. Before getting off of the call, they asked my company name in order to have a check ready on delivery. I had no company name, so after scanning my living room for inspiriation, I landed on a song title from one of my favorite bands – Fugazi’s Life and Limb, off of the record The Argument. That was the day that my crazy idea of starting a print company officially became Life and Limb Printing.
Within 2 years, I moved into a rental with a 600 SF garage separate from the house. I thought this was it, I had made it in business. After being able to upgrade equipment to a small printing press and conveyor dryer from working part-time and full-time jobs, along with some incredible help and hiring my first employee, boxes of shirts began flowing out of the garage into my backyard. I knew it was time to start considering a warehouse.
In the middle of the excitement around company growth, I felt something was off with my body and overall well-being. In turn, I did what I knew best back then and suppressed those feelings so that I could maintain “focus” on the business.
In 2016, I moved into a 3,000 SF facility and was able to stretch my legs and grow into the space, quickly upgrading to my first automatic printing press and adding several more employees. Within a year, we had grown exponentially and it was time to add to the team, as well as bring in another automatic press and dryer. In 2017, I started to find who our core customer base was and go all in.
By now, I felt that my mental health had suffered significantly and I began showing physical symptoms to a great degree.
In early 2019, we made the move to a 7,000 SF warehouse, where we were able to continue to grow and add other arms of the business, such as events and screen printing experience classes. We had our first ever 6 figure month in October 2019 and by December 31, 2019, we hit 7 figures as a company.
When you give little-to-no attention to yourself from a physical and mental standpoint, life becomes debilitating and this bleeds into your day to day, negatively impacting everything and everyone around you.
In September of 2019, I started making steps to source production, so that I could give more attention to my customers needs, as well as give more attention to my mental health. In January of 2019, I sold the production arm of my company. I was able to start focusing on doing the things I’ve wanted to do for a long time.
I began working with the customers I wanted to work with, saying no to the things that didn’t excite me, started doing more merch consulting with other print shops, brands, and corporate companies, and focusing more on my other company, which was a baby and kids brand centered around childhood mental health called Cavehouse Supply.
After being down 80%+ throughout 2020, 2021 started to shows signs of life again for Life and Limb Printing and by 2022, the company was approaching pre-pandemic numbers. My priorities were shifting and reevaluated what brought me joy and staying true to my core values. It wasn’t about hitting the next big revenue goal anymore. For me, success became 3 things – community, joy, and freedom.
This stemmed from having an incredible cognitive behavioral therapist who put me to work and gave me the tools needed to navigate each day from a personal and professional standpoint. Realizing childhood trauma and pain was a root cause for a lot of the darkness I carried into my adult life, I committed to putting in the work daily to better myself and my mental health.
I began building community and through this, my community became my lifeline. I found incredible mentors who made me better. I stuck with my therapist and locked down a business coach. I realized that I was building my personal board of directors. Now, I can’t imagine life without them.
Through brand building and growing a company, there are 5 things I wish learned early on –
• You can’t achieve anything alone. Community is everything.
• Systems will make you. Lack of systems will break you.
• Failure is NOT final. This is where I learned the most valuable information and now had actual data for my next move to be even more dialed in. Never stop learning.
• Always be ready. Be ready to pivot. Be ready for change. Be ready for growth. Be ready for opportunity.
• Prioritize physical and mental health always. Above all, this is the linchpin. Our well-being has a profound impact on the work we do as founders.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is RIGHT NOW.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Without a clear strategy and systems in place, you already have the work stacked against you. It took me a long time to fully grasp the truth behind this. From day one, I knew resiliency was a core value.
I was overdrawn in my bank account when I decided to start my business. I had to raise money just to be broke. I took on multiple odd jobs and was hired full time at an art store in order to save money to build my company. I would wake up at 6am and go to my full time job. Get off of work and make it home around 7pm. I would take an hour to eat dinner along with house chores, and then start screen printing orders I had in the queue until around 1 or 2am. Then I would repeat this schedule for a little over a year. It was one of the most difficult times I had ever experienced, but I knew I wanted to build my own business and help others achieve their merch goals.
2013 was the first year I had seen incredible growth because I was receiving high volume orders from multiple high profile customers (Gibson Guitars, Kanye West, Tim McGraw, brands in other states, etc.) and this was also the year my mom passed away. I got the call in the middle of my first ever $15,000 order and dropped everything. Days later, my anxiety started showing up through crippling, physical symptoms. Experiencing such a loss can take you down, lower than you could ever imagine. Through all of the wonderful people and customers in my life during that time, I was not only able to get back to building and growing the business, I started a company that was very personal to me, centered around childhood mental health awareness.
Through the work I do as a merch consultant and brand partner, I am able to help other founders build systems and create brand strategy around prioritizing their physical and mental well-being.
Resilience is a key component for every founder and one of the best things you can do is build your community before you know you need it. Create your personal board of directors now.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
On day one, I was was saying yes to everything and calling/visiting every business I could find. I wanted to work with everyone.
I think most of us know this is not sustainable, but I stuck to this for a few years and it kind of worked. I had multiple customers in every industry you could think of.
I started to learn more about core customers, target audience, and key demographics. Based on the type of work I was doing and where I wanted to take the business, I knew I needed to dial in my reach. That’s when I began to focus more on the beverage industry, outdoor brands, and corporate companies. Of course, we worked with other types of brands, companies, and some bands throughout but we wanted to put our time and energy into those 3 industries.
One of the most effective strategies for growing our clientele is finding your tribe. Once you understand your target audience and their interests, you can tailor everything to their specific needs. You’re no longer flying blind. Your core audience can become your biggest brand ambassadors.
Focus on building community.
Be authentic. When you show up as you, others are drawn to this. There is a lot of noise and this could be a key element to growing your clientele.
Tell your story. This was the biggest growth strategy for us. I would share how I started my company and the obstacles/successes I had in the early years with others, and there was an immediate connection. They wanted to be a part of that story and in turn, this built trust and loyalty.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.adamtanaka.com
- Instagram: @themerchspecialist AND @adamtanaka
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamtanaka/
- Twitter: @adamtanaka
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/@adamtanaka