We recently connected with Simon Vongpradith and have shared our conversation below.
Simon , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think it takes to be successful?
What it takes to be successful comes down to being motivated, surrounding yourself with positive and hardworking people, dedication, hard work, and making the right decisions. Motivation is a key factor in being successful because I’m motivated to keep food on the table for my family and ensure my employees can also. I surround myself with positive and hardworking people because they keep me grounded and always work on improving my business–my employees want to grow with me and the business. Dedication and hard work are no brainers, business owners must put in the hard hours to continue to gain success. And lastly, decisions are the reason you are on the path you are on today. Each decision is critical for the business and it takes mistakes and triumphs to continue to make the right ones.
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
I never thought I would be in the position to own a business, after receiving a Masters in Cybersecurity, I thought my life was set in a corporate setting for the rest of my life working 8-5. I did it for the money of course like we all do when we pursue our college degrees. During my 8-5 job, I listened to a lot of podcasts and watched youtube videos about business owners and I started looking into selling my own clothing brand online. I learned how to press vinyl on shirts to create my own logo and purchased my own heat pressing machine, vinyl, and vinyl cutter. I launched my website with such excitement but did not receive any hits. Word got out that I could press other logos on shirts and create custom shirts, my friends and family started purchasing custom shirts from me. This next path led me to Etsy where I created a store that became super successful. I was able to hire two employees for my Etsy store. Unbeknownst to me and the whole world, covid hit and were again on another rollercoaster trying to stay afloat. Fortunately, I was still able to work my day job until I was laid off. When I didn’t think anything could get worse, my Etsy store was shutdown due to infringement for one of my designs. I felt like I hit rock bottom. Everything I learned about business and printing shirts came to an end. The warehouses I bought vinyl and shirts from, all of the knowledge I had went to nothing. During this time, my two employees and I even picked up jobs to do custom fencing to make a few dollars. After researching endlessly online for answers, I came across a few entrepreneurs that did e-commerce, specifically on Amazon. A lightbulb popped in my head, all of the shirts I have access to from the warehouses in my area, I can sell those on Amazon. I signed up to become an Amazon Seller and listed blank t-shirts for sale and beat out other competitors. I know it wasn’t success overnight but it sure felt like it. 1, 10, 100, 1000 orders a day started coming in. The thing I am most proud of about my business is that I never gave up and my family and employees never gave up on me. I wanted to make them proud as much as I wanted to make myself proud of this business. I want my followers to know that success isn’t given without hard work and you will hit rock bottom at some point but the way you respond to those failures is what will end up making you better.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
As I had mentioned in my last paragraph, I started my business wanting to sell my own clothing brand to creating and Etsy store to then becoming an Amazon Seller. We all think we are following a path and will stick it but sometimes you have to regroup and think of other solutions that will make your business better. It is okay to go down many paths and hit many walls. It is how you respond to those hardships is what will make you successful.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
My advice for managing a team is getting to know your employees. If you have 10 to 100, you need to find ways to connect to your employees to ensure they are happy and enjoy what they do. Turnover rates is what I take pride in at my workplace. Over the span of 7 years, I have taken the time to talk to my employees 1 on 1 and work on their goals. I ask them what they would like to learn, is there anything they would do to improve the workplace, are they happy, etc. This helps maintain high morale because they know upper management is looking out for them and actually care.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/takeoffprintz/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/takeoffprintz/