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

M, appreciate you joining us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

My entire life I’ve had a passion to do something different. I’ve always had a gift of gab and from a very young age I knew I could dominate in sales. Paying my way through college I worked 3 jobs. I was hungry and thirsty for success. While attending a historically black university my passion grew for kicks and this is where it all began.

As stated previously, I worked really hard in college. Nothing ever came easy. I came from a family that worked long hours and tirelessly. A descendant of Haitian immigrants parents; they wanted more for myself and four siblings. They wanted us to be successful and hard working citizens. With this being said, they instilled in me what hard work and determination was. I was never a sneaker head in the beginning. I never grew up wearing a pair of $120.00 kicks. This would never happen in my childhood. My parents would rather take my siblings and I to our local shoe store or bargain center where almost often it was Buy 2 (pairs of shoes) for $60.00. Which means that I always got one black pair of shoes and one white pair of shoes. If it wasn’t a bargain they didn’t buy! A bargain, sale or clearance price was more appealing to their pockets. My parents would always say, “I’d never spend that much money on shoes”.

My older brothers and cousins introduced me to the shoe game. They all had jobs and were able to purchase fly kicks. Growing up in a household where I was the youngest I watched how my brothers dressed and the various shoes they owned. I wanted to be just like them but there was one thing; I couldn’t because I had no job and no cash. Thinking back, I could remember when my dad wore a pair of my brother’s exclusive (at the time) kicks to mow the lawn. Boy was my brother upset!

Fast forward to one of the most memorable years in college. My first year in college I gained employment with a major footwear company. I worked as an assistant manager. This is where I truly started to develop a passion for kicks and drove sale goals. This is where I really began to yearn for knowledge. In 2005, I made my first “real” kicks purchase or so I thought! I can laugh at the situation now. It will be a story that I will never forget. It all began when I went to work one day with what I though was a real pair of “J’s”. You see, I had purchased the shoes from a guy that I though was legitimate. Turns out he wasn’t and as soon I walked into work my co-workers began to laugh at the “J’s” on my feet. I was told that the shoes that I wore did not “represent the brand in a positive way”. I had on FAKES!! It was against company policy to wear fake shoes. Instructed by my superior, I literally had to purchase another pair of kicks if I wanted to work my shift. I felt lost, confused, but most importantly embarrassed! How could an assistant manager at a major footwear company not recognize a fake pair of shoes?

The beginning of Shoe MD was created. That day I made a promise to myself that I would NEVER EVER wear a fake pair of shoes again. I vowed to educate myself and this is where my passion grew from kicks. Over the years my shoe collection grew from owning 3 pairs of shoes to owning almost 80 pairs by 2007. By 2009, I stop counting after pair number 220. It was never about the quantity of shows but rather the quality and exclusivity of the shoe.

By 2011 I had gained employment with a major skateboarding-footwear company. Working for this company made me understand the importance of people and drive. I was one of the top managers in the company. I obtain almost every sales goal. This enabled me to develop my skill set and allowed me to grow as a manger but most importantly as a person. Whilst in this position, I began to get uncomfortable with the way in which the company was headed. The company failed to provide resources for my professional and personal growth. I began to feel as if the brand did not fit my lifestyle. I had outgrown my space and as a result I decided to move on.

I realized that creating my own business would allow me have the freedom and showcase my passion for the footwear industry. So I started to spend 50% of my paycheck on buying inventory for the business. I used 40 % for my living expenses, and the rest 10% I used for miscellaneous items such as dating my girlfriend out, who later became my wife. As, I continued to build inventory, I sold a ebay, local meet ups, and traveling to sneaker events in the areas. Throughout that time I averaged 49% profit margins with each items I sold . I knew that the next step in this process would lead me to leave my current leadership roles in retail management. We fast forward, of doing this for 16 years . should over 5,500 items. with a profit margin of 39.4% I know it was time for me to entered a retail space and leave my job into management.

Then, 2019, came and covid came and changed my business forever. I have spent the past decade building a brand on Ebay, and on Youtube with my sneaker reviews . Being consistency, and to continue to give great customer was my motto. I believe I would have a footwear business that actually valued the consumers, and their time. Not making it about just the sales but the experience. Ensuring to my customers that it not just about sneakers, but the lifestyle. Covid arrived, and everything was closed. But online sales continued. So I took that opportunity to do mass orders online to sneaker companies as they gave big discount on items as covid, and mask mandates slowly closed our economy. Sales were now through the roof. YTD sales in 2018 was roughly $7,000. By the April of 2020 , Shoe MD sales YTD was $28,000. I have seen an 95% increase in business . The approach of having a lot of inventory, gave people options. Especially while sitting at home during the pandemic. I knew leaving my corporate management roles would soon follow.

Leaving my corporate job to pursue my dreams was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. In 2021, my realtor called me , asking if I was looking for a retail space in our city. I wasn’t actively looking, but the profit margins were hit for the past 3 years of my business with an increase of 22 % growth each year. It was time to , put may faith into opening a store front. A brick and mortar during an challenging economy.

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?

Shoe MD, A retail & Online store that will BUY.SELL. TRADE 100% authentic shoes, and apparel items. We do not sell, accept, or otherwise deal with fakes. A BLACK OWNED BUSINESS THAT STRIVE TO CONNECT consumers to exclusive rare footwear at an affordable price point.

That has been our mantra, but our key core value to our consumers. At times in this industry you are completing with sellers that are trying to sell items for the best prices. I figured out that want to make a certain percentage in each items that we purchase to resell for our business. Regardless of dollar amount we try to hit Return on Investments by being close to obtaining a great profit margins percentage. Our sweet spot in between 25-32% on every dollar spent. Noting more, noting less in this range.

This has helped us identify consumers that has became repeated customers. Price point is key in reselling footwear.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I pivoted in my business when I cam to the collision in 2020, that sourcing online presented challenges due to the Pandemic. I could only revel products of items store had in their inventory. So came up with the plan on traveling to Sneaker conventions, and trade shows to source products. We would buy in bulk , along with getting better deals on exclusive items in person at trade shows. At our first evening in Boston Massachusetts. We purchased 15 pairs of Dunks Low Pandas, for $149 each. then resold each pair for $230 to our consumers. The light bulb , appeared in my mind, which later became our biggest way to stock up our inventory. .

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Being active in Social media is key in bringing consumers to your business. . I focused on producing more content for my social media feeds , like Reels, and posts and stories. We created a strategy to post at least 20 times per week, at least 4x per day, with different content each time. We started to like followers on IG, and Facebook, with similar interest as our brand . We engage them, and commented on posts. We asked questions so they could responses to. This helped increase our follower with additional 500 new followers in 3 months. Engaged followers will drive more traffic. Which will lead more sales.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ShoeMD.sale
• Instagram: @Shoe_MD
• Facebook: MD_Shoe
• Twitter: @md_shoe
• Youtube: Shoe_MD
• Other: https://www.ebay.com/str/shoemdsales