We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lexis Carter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lexis, thanks for joining us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?
I have always had the urge to start something of my own, but I honestly can say that I’m glad I started later than planned, the reason being, I had my kids. My daughter was born in April of 2016, and it was time for me to lock in as a new parent to make sure I did my best to provide. Within three years I had my son, in February of 2019, and I switched careers from retail to the medical field. So, during that timeframe I was in survival mode and never really had the time to really sit down and think about what it was I wanted to start when it came to being a business owner. Being able to have the time with my kids and truly be in tune with them was a huge blessing. I know that there are a lot of fathers out there that might have to miss out on this time being that they are trying to provide the best way they can for their family. I feel that if I would have started sooner, I would have missed out on my kid’s growth and development which is a precious time in any parents’ life!
Now fast forward to 2020, I finally get to a point in my life where I want to be my own boss and create a clothing brand that people can resonate with. I’ve been in the shoe industry for 10 plus years and had gained a lot of experience within that time. Even though I was working overnight and then coming home to care for my kids during the day, I was completely focused on learning what it took to start a online business. So, I began to research all that came with e-commerce and within a few weeks I had my first online store.
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
Back in November of 2011 I landed a job with Champs Sports, which was something I had always wanted to do, if given the opportunity. Any kid who loves sneakers is going to want to work at a shoe store. Once I was in, I was able to gain so much experience within my time in different shoe stores. Being that all shoe stores carry clothes, I got to see many different sides of the apparel aspect in each store that I worked for. Once I transitioned into a boutique setting, that changed the game for me! If you have ever visited a sneaker boutique, it’s a completely different vibe from your normal shoe retailer in the mall. Being around a different atmosphere when it came to streetwear, inspired me to look at shoes and fashion in a much broader way than I ever had before. This led me to be more creative with how I dressed and how I viewed articles of clothing on a day-to-day basis. After meeting plenty of people who dressed so out of the “norm” and being a part of several major pop-ups events, I was finally ready to create something I could call my own.
After experiencing so much within the sneaker boutique and building up so many ideas, I finally came up with my clothing brand name…. VIII Out Of X. When it comes to dressing up, I’ve always had the ability to put looks together that were a step outside of society’s “normal” fashion. Now, I’m not way outside of the box, but I do try to be different in the way I put pieces together. After receiving compliments on the way I dressed and put looks together, I knew I could create a lane for myself within the clothing industry. In an industry so large, I understood that I had to be different, but in a way that would still attract people to my brand. So, I wanted to stay true to myself and make my brands message all about being the “best version of yourself”. Life itself can be very tough, so I wanted my design’s concept to resonate with people in a way that they can relate to in all aspects of life. This is what I knew would set me apart because I’m combining a healthy lifestyle/conscious with streetwear fashion. With this combination I can provide knowledge on various topics that deal with your overall health to current and all potential customers.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
I use my own website for sales, which I wanted to gain organic traffic so I can connect with all of my customers. Being that I have a very busy schedule I chose to use a print on demand service to help with a lot of the dirty work. This allows me to focus more on the marketing and social media accounts, as well as advertisements.
The pros to this choice are requiring little startup money and allows you to not have to hold any inventory physically. Everything is handled through the manufacturer, which is a big help! The cons to this choice are your profit margins being a bit smaller, so you must produce more traffic and sales to see profit gains. Nonetheless, it’s all on how much time you have to commit to your business.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
One of the biggest things I had to unlearn is thinking that everyone I am close to or know, whether it be family or friends, will support me. Going into owning a business you feel once you get everything set up to start selling online or in person that all your friends will be your customers, and this is far from the truth! In fact, most of your customer base will be people you have never met in your life! But this allows me to get to know more people and become more diverse as a person when building a customer base for my brand. Now don’t get me wrong, you will have some family and close friends that will support, but don’t bank on it! I quickly learned that it takes a lot of strategic marketing skills to get your brand out to the world, and if you can offer free content that can help someone in their life, you can build a very loyal customer base to always represent your brand.
Contact Info:
- Website: VIIIOutOfX.com
- Instagram: @VIIIOutOfX
- Facebook: @VIIIOutOfX
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0dCE5ftXYY&feature=emb_imp_woyt
- Other: Personal IG: IAmSosa_10 – which leads to site and brand page (Would like this added as well for more followers)
Image Credits
Jay Chase – Cincinnati Bengals Wide Receiver #1 Noel Patterson – Alife Promoter