We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Larry Zahn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Larry below.

Larry , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

I didn’t know it at the time, but some on-the-job training I received at a previous employer set me up for complete success in any job, venture or personally owned business. Specifically, it was extensive training relative to signature customer service, providing a quality product, making the customer experience easy and fluid and thinking outside of the box/paradigm shifting with the knowledge to innovate. Ironically, at the time, everyone hated it and complained about having to go and I just ate it up. A true rarity for me to be engaged in a classroom. Twenty years later I feel totally indebted and just want to thank them for the opportunity they gave me. It will stick with me forever, as these are the key disciplines for running a successful business. If you have a good product and can execute on all of the above, you are light years ahead of the pack. There are few companies that operate that way and they clearly stand out in their industry. Like Chick-Fil-A and In-N-Out burger in the fast food industry. Their long lines say it all and people are always willing to wait regardless. They have amazing customer service, their associates are clearly engaged and love their job, they deliver a high quality meal and do so at a substantial cheaper price than their competitors. Their secret to success is that simple. They can offer more competitive prices because of their volume, they pay and appreciate their associates – who in turn pass on their engagement to customers and so on and so forth.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

People always get a kick out of my response when they ask…what do you do? That’s a loaded question. I’ve been in a corporate security capacity with fortune 500 companies for the last 32 years. I started in the mailroom in my first career and accidentally found out I was destined to work in the security and investigations field. Law enforcement was on the horizon, as I always wanted to be a homicide detective, However, when the opportunity came knockin I was married, had two young kids and my current employer made an attractive retention offer I could not refuse. As a contingency plan, I got my Private Investigator Agency License and have retained that licensing and done side hustle job off and on for more than 20 years now. In terms of my TIG3R12 Clothing Co. business, I finally came of age to make an old dream come true. Just before Covid hit, I decided I was going to start a retro streetwear clothing brand catering to the action sports community. I grew up skateboarding, BMX racing, riding dirt bikes, etc. I’ve always been passionate about extreme sports. I’ve also always wanted to start my own clothing brand since I was about 16 years old and was introduced to the brand Stussy. What better than to pair my two loves as a hobby, that has evolved into a full scale business. Our focus is now on expanding our brand and becoming a household name.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I’ll tell you what, social media as an almost 50 year old with a new business was rough. I had zero desire to be on, let alone learn different social media platforms. It was very evident early on that it was imperative to learn every aspect of the various social media platforms. I’ll caution people though to not try to tackle all of the platforms at one time. As the old saying goes, you become a jack of all trades and master at nothing. know your audience and the best platform(s) to reach them. Concentrate on high quality, frequent and relative content on 2-3 platforms at most. I have a diverse following and I found Instagram/Facebook to be the most relative. Instagram for the younger and largest crowd and Facebook more so for the Gen X crew. The beauty here is the ability to post many things on both platforms at the same time. It pays to be knowledgeable or to hire a consultant to educate you or someone to run your social media content and marketing campaigns. Social media presence is critical to the success of most businesses. Don’t be afraid to suck up your independence and pride and just ask for some help. Things as granular as what content to post, how frequently, scheduling posts, what is a story vs. a post or reel, how many hashtags to use, what music to use to engage customers and catch the algorithm wave, etc. In simple terms, know your audience, decide which platforms most appeal to said audience, keep it simple, provide quality content, post often and thoroughly educate yourself or invest in a professional.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Of course, I could tell probably at least 20 things I wish I knew or could have done better. But that is all part of the normal journey and the risks that eventually equal reward. This could not be more true for the small business person with limited funds or resources to start a business. Trust your passion and resilience to help you transform into a butterfly. It’s critical as a business owner to go through the steps and pain of starting out to celebrating the success of hard work and evolution. The adult butterfly goes through four different phases of evolution…the egg, the pupa, the larvae and finally the butterfly. Don’t dwell on what shortcomings you’ll face or the what if’s of the unknown. Empower yourself, trust yourself, embrace the opportunity to learn and flourish and celebrate your success. Their is no certainty with anything other than not trying at all. Go for it and take the initiative to make it happen. Most importantly, when you do make it…take the opportunity to thank those who helped along the way and to pay it forward by helping other aspiring entrepreneurs with your knowledge.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.tig3r12.com
• Instagram: @tig3r12
• Facebook: @tig3r12
• Linkedin: Larry Zahn, CPP, CRT
• Twitter: @R12Tig3
• Other: Tumblr: @Tig3r12