We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Israel Cruz III a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Israel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. 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.
Wow, where do I begin? I’m so lucky to have two parents that are such kind and genuine people. I spent a lot of time with my mom and grandparents growing up and I was always reminded by them to show kindness to others and always be the best version of myself. This lesson has really influenced my first year as the owner of MANBUNS, my underwear, swimwear, and apparel business. I’ve discovered that the more people I meet, the more the community believes in my brand, because they can connect MANBUNS to me on a personal level. I show so much gratitude to those that support me, because my company wouldn’t be as successful without their support. My dad has been an entrepreneur for majority of my life, so I have seen the sacrifices that he had to make to ensure that our family was taken care of first hand. Owning a business is hard, but it takes someone who is hungry and has a certain type of drive to make their business successful. I have the same drive as my dad when it comes to business and work. We are both leaders and go-getters. He was actually the one who encouraged me to start the journey with MANBUNS. Whenever I am unsure about a business decision, I always turn to him for advice and I know he will always give me an objective opinion.
Israel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
A little background about myself, I am Hispanic and was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Marketing from C.T. Bauer School of Business at the University of Houston. I was a first generation college graduate in my family. Straight out of college in 2014, I joined my father in our company business and learned how to run a business from the ground-up. For the last decade my dad has always encouraged me to come up with an idea and become my own boss. I struggled for years to think of an idea that I was passionate about and reflected the person that I am. During the pandemic, I observed that the companies that saw success were companies that had an online presence. I enrolled in the Glascock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University to become certified in Digital Marketing. I am not the original founder of MANBUNS. I became friends with the original owner through social media and I was a loyal customer from the beginning. In 2022 my friend announced that he would be closing MANBUNS to pursue other business ventures. One morning as I was drinking coffee with my dad at work, I mentioned the concept of MANBUNS to him. He turned to me and said, “Why don’t you talk to your friend and keep the company going?” I always found myself to be creative and I loved the quirky-fun side of MANBUNS, so I thought it was a perfect fit for me. Next thing you know, after a few back and forth conversations, I became the new CEO of MANBUNS. I’m so proud of my first year with MANBUNS. I’ve had some highs and lows, but overall I was able to find a company where I could channel all of my creativity. I get asked all of the time, “What sets MANBUNS apart from other brands?”My goal is to bring fun and comfort to your everyday life. You can’t cut corners on comfort, because I am a firm believer that you get what you pay for. Sure, you can go online and find countless rubber duck undies but you can’t beat the quality, comfort and memorable branding of MANBUNS. I am always thinking of new ideas and concepts to bring to MANBUNS. I recently dipped my toes in swimwear and summer Pride Month sunglasses for the summer. I am constantly brainstorming other ways to expand the company.
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
I do sell MANBUNS on a few e-commerce websites, such as Faire for wholesale, Etsy, Jane, and TikTok Shop, just to name a few. Each website has a different target audience and it’s important to understand who you are targeting on each. The descriptions of your product should reflect the customer that you trying to reach. Understanding how SEO works will really help your brand organically grow. For instance, the holidays are coming up soon, so I would want to start marketing my brand as a great stocking stuffer in my descriptions or tags. If you are using an e-commerce website that is centered around deals, I’ve noticed that the ones that worked for my brand were at least 25% off and included free shipping. Customers always respond well when free shipping is involved in the deal. The cons of selling your product on a website like these is that the other companies will try to see how much more that you’re willing to negotiate the price down in order to make the deal. I’ve learned to only put my products that I have plenty of inventory in stock, but I refuse to go lower than my overall cost of the product and shipping cost. I’m still trying to find my groove with TikTok Shop when it comes to consistent content, but influencer marketing is such a great way to get your product in front of a larger well established market.
Any fun sales or marketing stories?
I was once at a networking happy hour with a friend and I was introduced to someone in passing. It was towards the end of the event and I felt like I needed to recharge my social battery, so I went home shortly after this encounter. I randomly ran into this person with some friends and I was able to chat with him more. I learned about his job and I was able to tell him about the two jobs I had. Fast forward a month later, this colleague gives me a call and lets me know that he is part of a Space City Pride FC soccer team. He wanted to know if I would be willing to donate 10 pairs of underwear to his team to wear during a Pride Night event. I figured that it was great brand exposure and they offered to hang my banner up during this event. The next day, I get a phone call from a local clothing store wanting to inquire on carrying my brand in their store. The store owner saw the soccer team wearing my underwear and wanted to support a local business. Because of this event where I took a risk on donating 10 pairs of underwear, I was able to gain a placement in their store carrying my underwear, socks and swimwear. I learned a valuable lesson that day—brand exposure is incredibly important and should be a priority.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mymanbuns.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/mymanbuns
- Facebook: facebook.com/mymanbuns
- Twitter: twitter.com/mymanbuns
- TikTok: my.manbuns