We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brennen Woodward a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brennen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

I grew up in a home with a loving mother and father. We lived in a small town in rural Utah where my parents started their own business and they were able to grow it into a sizable entity by the time I was a teenager. At the time I had no interest in thinking beyond the next day. I was a 15 year old kid who wanted to do nothing more than hang out with friends and enjoy life. One summer day I was invited to a pool party at our city pool. I can’t remember why there was a party, I only remember there was a DJ there. I thought it would be something cool to do and decided I’d put in some research. The internet was very, very young at the time (it was still dial-up) so there wasn’t a ton of information to pull off of there. So the next day I put my shoes on and walked the 1.5 miles down to the only music store in the area. I walked in, met the owner, stated I wanted to be a DJ and asked what I need to make that happen. He was incredible to work with and came up with a “bare bones” yet functional set of equipment I would need. The only issue is it was going to cost $2,000. I walked home and spent a few days creating my pitch and one day while I was walking up the stairs, both of my parents were walking by. I asked if I could talk with them and they sat on the stairs while I gave my first pitch. I told them what I was going to do (be a DJ), how much money I needed ($2k), what events I had already lined up (multiple after game high school dances), how much I would charge (a whopping $75/dance), and how I was to pay them back. My mother was 100% on board with the idea and basically told my father to take me down right now and get the equipment on order. It was an ethereal experience to have parents so on board with the start of my entrepreneurial journey. I was 15 years old with no drivers license with a small idea and they made me feel like I had just founded Apple. That has been a constant driving force behind who I have become as an adult.

I later graduated with my BS in Entrepreneurship from Utah State University and took off to the corporate world. My original plan was to spend 3-5 years with a established company before branching off into a firm of my own. I had no idea what that firm would be, but I knew that was my plan. I then spent 10 years with that company and started Blue Gecko Apparel at during that time. My parents were the second people I told (after my wife).

In April of 2019 I received a call from my father letting me know my mother had unexpectedly passed away in her sleep. I felt empty and lost because she was one of the first people to not just say yes, but to encourage me to follow something I was passionate about. For several months after I felt a bit lost and my performance at my current place of employment was suffering. In February of 2020 I had made the decision to step back from the security of the business world I was comfortable in and took Blue Gecko Apparel full-time. I credit my mother with that final push out the corporate door.

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?

After college I spent 10 years in the corporate world as a manager trainee, manager, sales manager and outside sales person of multiple locations within one company. I helped manage multiple locations from $1.6 million in to $80 million in sales, and 3 to 55 employees that would report to me in some way. It gave me a bunch of experience in a world that operated on building long-term relationships, not just the next sale. That has provided incredible value to me in my own entrepreneurial journey.

The industry served blue-collar workers who were out there powering the world and these people LOVED swag. Hats, shirts, hoodies, jackets, whatever. We would brand it with our branding and they would take it, wear it, and rep it. As a manager I grew frustrated with the getting this apparel due to long lead times and changing of what i thought was pre-negotiated pricing at the end of the transaction. Granted, they were legitimate charges, but they popped up at the end, not when I was quoted the pricing. These charges were setup charges, art fees, screen fee’s, hooping fee’s, and more. It just became frustrating through the process and I had an idea. I approached my then boss and asked if I could do this at the same price, but cut out the surprises, would he use me? He agreed and I spent the next two months researching everything I could about apparel decoration. Should I get into embroidery or screen printing first? What equipment is needed? How do I get wholesale access to apparel blanks? What do I need to sell in order to break even? How much time will this take? (This was strictly a nights and weekends thing and I didn’t want to completely remove myself from my families life.)

I chose to get into embroidery first. Even though it was a little more expensive, it was less of a mess in our home. We officially opened our doors on January 1, 2018. Again, it was meant to be low-key. Enough to pay for itself and provide a fun vacation each year. I created Blue Gecko Apparel to fulfill two key needs; 1) To cut the guesswork out of pricing. Of course I charge those same fee’s that frustrated me so. I just baked them into my price so the number the customer got was the legitimate number, and 2) to provide a higher level of customer service and product quality.

In February of 2020 I took Blue Gecko Apparel from a side-hustle into the full-time arena. Two weeks later COVID lockdowns happened. The economy ground to a halt and all the money set aside by companies to buy swag was redirected to save their own company. I was scared. My wife was scared. My kids were scared. I had just left a decent six-figure job to do my own thing where sales were a whopping $44k in 2019. But we stuck to it. Because I no longer had the stable paycheck, banks were hesitant to loan me any money so we had to survive on existing lines of credit.

I spent the next 18 months grinding it out. I took money from just about anywhere I could get it. I got down and dirty with my pricing because I needed the cash flow. So why did it stop at 18 months? In August of 2021 I went back to school to get a Master’s degree. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but the program was the Master of Business Creation program at the University of Utah. A one year Master’s level program where you had to have your own company. You brought your company in and you learn from entrepreneurial experts who have been there, done that. I readily admit that the version Blue Gecko Apparel I brought into this program was a dumpster fire. We spent the next 9 months whittling down to the core, who/what is Blue Gecko. Aside from ample faculty support, we sat in a room with 17 other companies going through the exact same thing. It was an incredible and challenging experience. We have been able to expand our offerings by becoming licensed partners with 9 out of 11 colleges and universities in the State of Utah.

I walked away from that experience with a broader mind and a much more narrow focus as to what Blue Gecko is and can become. With help, I turned my focus onto what I do best. Serve people who need a face to talk to while taking a massive burden off of them. We are now a premier apparel solutions provider that just happens to print some shirts. We target athletic and corporate teams and education departments. Those whose time are better spent coaching or leading instead of figuring out what shirt to get for the new team members. We take the responsibility of order and money collection and fulfillment of your teams apparel by creating individualized e-commerce websites. You just have to share the link to the store. We take it from there.

This sets us apart from competition in two main ways. 1) We remove the headache of apparel acquisition from you and 2) We have industry leading lead times. Our goal is once your teammate/employee/student orders, they are repping your custom created branded apparel within 2 weeks.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

There is a saying that “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” and that definitely has some truth to it. Most of the time it is believed that it is who you know when you start out on your entrepreneurial journey. But I’m talking about people you met along the way. My company was a raging dumpster fire before I met key people who cared enough about me to break me down and then help build me back up into what I need to be. Actively seek out individuals who encourage you to build the best version of yourself and your company. These may be individuals within your industry (even competitors).

By allowing myself to accept help from others I have built what I believe to be the rock solid foundation of Blue Gecko Apparel. That in turn has helped my reputation. I have earned the right to be called reliable, helpful and quick. Because of this I don’t have to be the one digging the bottom of the pricing barrel. Word of mouth is still the quickest way to build a business. Don’t discount what even your fiercest competitor has to offer you.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Aside form my own “origin” story, I have had to pivot multiple times over the last 3 years. COVID caused a lot of it, but bad decisions on my part caused some of it also. When I decided to go full-time with Blue Gecko, I spent two weeks creating and acting on my battle plan. I had just left a well-paying six-figure job and I knew if I wanted to continue that I needed to make bold and swift decisions. I decided that I was going to make loads of money traveling to events (dance competitions, running races) and printing apparel on site. I could charge a premium and I got to get out of the house! I invested $10k+ in equipment and blank apparel and had already received quotes on a new trailer to haul all of this stuff around. The night before the first event COVID locked down the country/world. Of the lost several thousand dollars because of that.

I had to pivot again, but where? The last half decade had seen the rise of subscription services to get things regularly delivered to your door. Why couldn’t a t-shirt be a part of that? We didn’t just want to ship you a t-shirt, we wanted to include a box of things. We would use other small businesses and their products to include in these subscription boxes so not only would we get ourselves out into the world, we could help other small businesses along the way! This pivot required the purchase of a piece of equipment that cost bout $30k. We went to Kickstarter with our idea and we were rejected because it wasn’t artsy enough (first setback). So we went to IndiGoGo. We again spent about $10k of our own money to get a website built, artwork created, samples ordered and so on. We then launched the Vibe Box! We wanted the country to get its “vibe” back and we used cool neon-signage, night club artwork to get that across. We then sent the link to our friends and family, all who had wholeheartedly endorsed our name and branding and plan. A week went by without so much as a single backer. We grew frustrated and my wife received a call from her sibling with some concerns. They had sent the link out and received back questions as to why they were sending a link to a pornographic/adult themed subscription box. Our hearts dropped. Not ONCE did we think of that. Not ONCE did a single person close to us mention that this may be construed as that.

We rebranded it to be “Generation Tee’s” so we could show off styles from yesteryear. Dropped the additional items to be included in the box and we would just ship a t-shirt and redid our website (at another cost of $5k) to reflect that. But the damage was done. We raised $700 on IndiGoGo and there was zero traction after that. Because the ones who cared about us most didn’t want to hurt our feelings, we again had to pivot. Moral of the story is that family members are great cheerleaders and are needed when going through this. But big time pivots should be discussed with individuals agnostic towards your feelings.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bluegeckoapparel.com (currently reworking it. won’t be ready for a few weeks into 2023)
• Instagram: www.instragram.com/bluegeckoapparel
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/bluegeckoapparel
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/76578981/admin/

Image Credits
Shandee Lynn Photography