We recently connected with Kenneth Beard and have shared our conversation below.

Kenneth , appreciate you joining us 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.

My parents stayed on me about being the best me I could possibly be. They saw in me what I didn’t see in myself at first. As a child I thought they were just being hard on me, but as I got older I realized they prepared me for not only the business owner that I am but also the man that I am.

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

Im from a small city with a big family on both my mom and dad side of the family and I believe that growing up where everyone knows everyone helped me a lot along my path because all my intentions outside of my business are pure so that transfers to my business intentions being pure I actually got into the apparel business with building great relationships I was asked often to be apart of photoshoots or become brand ambassadors for certain business which lead me on a path to find my own calling in business I knew I loved to dress nice so there it was and as a kid I could literally sell a thing thanks to my aunt Kenya now I provide some of the most quality clothing you’ll ever find and I take pride and being able to say that I’m mostly proud of the growth of my business and the people I’ve touched along the way of this journey I never knew what type of platform this would put me on to help others but I’ve embraced it and enjoyed it

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

So I started my business with a total of $600 my initial logo was free (I still use it today to show where my business started) because I got a close friend to draw it out for me and I reached out to a local print shop located in Murfreesboro (legacy ink) I did something that most businesses owners wouldn’t do and that’s pre-orders with out a deposit and the reason I did that is because I knew everyone wouldn’t get them who asked but I’d have left overs to sell to those who wanted after seeing others with it I ended up selling 86 of those shirts at $20 a piece and that’s what helped me get my business off the ground initially

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Honestly I had a good name for being involved in the community in various ways before my business so that helped me in a major way from working with kids in the community center for metro parks to hosting college and city party events to being one of the better guys in the playing basketball a lot of people know and like me so I believe that’s what helped me the most

Contact Info:

• Website: Thedifferentclothing.com
• Instagram: _made_different