We recently connected with Selim Wehber and have shared our conversation below.
Selim, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.
In the beginning the focus was just bringing this company to life. I spent a lot of time looking into what I needed to do to become a small business owner in my city/state. Once I got the ball rolling and committed to paying for the licenses and trademark, I was faced with new problems. As a graphic designer, my strength was coming up with new designs but I never had any experience in sales or marketing. I bought a few books soon after to help me learn about these two crucial parts of business. A mistake I made in the beginning was trying to predict how much product I would sell. I have since switched to a “limited drop” method where the product is now sold through presale and only printed once. This helped tremendously with creating more demand and solving inventory problems.
Selim, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I was born and raised in San Diego and started skateboarding at a very young age. I grew up watching my favorite skate companies grow into massive brands that are now recognized throughout the world. Witnessing this, along with learning more about skateboarding culture lead me to want to be apart of the industry. Of course I wanted to be a professional skateboarder but I realized the one thing better then that would be to start my own skate company.
One of the things that sets Profit Skateboards apart from the rest is the focus on local talent. I’ve personally witnessed a lot of skaters not get their recognition for the talent they have and felt it was only right to help some of these guys get the attention they deserve by filming and promoting our own skate videos.
Another thing that sets us apart is the designs and our clothes. Let’s be honest, skateboarding brands have become really popular and I feel there are few that are actually doing it right. If you’ve ever walked into a Zumiez and felt there was nothing in there for you, then you know what I mean. I don’t relate to the current fashion trends which is a good thing in my opinion because it’ll allow our clothing to stand out from the rest.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
What’s been bringing us the most new clients is honestly word of mouth. None of the ad campaigns that we have ran have brought in more results than a customer that is excited to wear and post about their new Profit gear. It’s really motivating seeing people enjoy their new hoodies or skateboards, so I guess creating good, quality products has lead to more customers.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Our social media presence has been super organic. Most of our followers have see us out skating in the streets or in the skateparks of San Diego. We usually post skate clips or promotions/ads for new products. I do see a lot of room for growth because we have only really tapped into the local market. One of our goals this year is to reach people from major cities where there is already a huge skateboarding scene. We plan on using Instagram ads to target these new potential customers. For those interested, you can follow us on Instagram at @profitskateboardco.
Contact Info:
- Website: Profitskateboards.com
- Instagram: @profitskateboardco
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCpzuz4lH0_bx2873SpV7K0g
Image Credits
Photo Credits: V Bosston, Selim Wehber