Images Magazine Digital Edition October 2018

www.images-magazine.com OCTOBER 2018 images 27 IS DECORATOR PROFILE fully understand the data,“ says Richard. “We make sure that they understand that information in the simplest way possible so that they don‘t make the wrong decision. “The investment that we‘ve made in machinery means that the product is, in our opinion, amongst the best out there, and certainly we know we‘re quicker than most of our competitors, but it‘s focusing on the activity and analysing the data and giving it to subscribers in a format that empowers them to make decisions, that really makes the difference.“ Mentor motivation While Tshirtify is a start-up – it began trading in January this year, and was ranked 39 in the Startups 100 2018 list – the couple behind the company, Kerry and Richard Flanagan, have a wealth of experience in this sector. Richard set up the printing company 8 Ball 15 years ago and built up a strong team that allowed them to do everything in-house, including building the website. It was when they helped out a client they were printing for with his website and customer service that the idea for Tshirtify started to grow. “We realised that we had helped him get his time back and also create extra revenue for his business, and we thought, ‘We could start doing this for other people‘,“ says Kerry. “We were working for quite big brands at the time, but we were finding that they weren‘t really appreciating the value that we could offer. Everything was always quite last minute, our team wasn‘t very enthused and it was quite a difficult way of working because we could never pre-plan a big job. “We decided we could offer a lot more value by helping independent brands and creatives like musicians and artists who have a need for someone to do their merchandising. It frees up their time so they can do what they love, and engage with their fans and audience. We do the behind- the-scenes stuff and really help them build a reputation with their merchandise.“ A large part of the motivation for setting up the new business is down to their mentor, Roger Hamilton of the Entrepreneurs Institute. Richard and Kerry have monthly mentoring calls with him, and last year did a two-week accelerated course at Roger‘s Entrepreneur Resort out in Bali. “We left after two weeks with a whole promotion plan about how we were going to set up this business, how we were going to market it, what team members we needed – everything, really,“ says Kerry. “Having a coach and a mentor really allows a different perspective,“ adds Richard. Drilling down The institute has a profiling system that’s based on preferences and personalities. “Everybody has a slightly different personality type,“ explains Kerry. “The way that we‘ve built this business is by profiling to get the right people in the right role, doing the job that suits them, the job that keeps them happy. “Once people realise, ‘Oh, this is what I am and this is how it works, this is how I interact with people,‘ it‘s liberating because it allows you to focus on what you‘re good at and not on what you‘re not good at, and you find other people to do the things that you‘re not good at,“ says Richard. “It works to such an extent that with key clients we profile them as it allows us to get information to them in the right way. Certain types of people won‘t be able to digest reams of data or have any interest in it, they‘ll want very succinct information, but conversely some people will want the detail behind everything.“ The pair are quite clear about the type of client they want. “We don‘t want lots of smaller clients, we‘re after clients who‘ve got traction through a lot of social media or are actively looking to grow their business with us. At the end of the day, we‘re looking for long-term partners. It‘s not a case of bringing them on board and doing our thing, it‘s really about thinking how can we deliver value to them so they can grow their business.“ They‘re also taking care to refine their internal procedures so that they can scale up easily. “This year has been about getting the fundamentals in place and ensuring everything is as efficient as possible,“ explains Richard. “That includes things like our barcoding system, which allows us to track every single process. We developed it ourselves. In some cases, like at production stations and end stations, we‘ve increased efficiency by 98% – it‘s increased our capacity a hell of a lot.“ The company has a “brilliant“ tech team comprising two core and two support staff, confirms Kerry. “If we need a new process in place to achieve something, then they just go and figure out how to build it and the best way to implement it.“ On average, businesses grow 20% year-on-year when subscribing to the Plus package [Above] The Aeoon “won hands down on the quality of the print“ [Left] For every T-shirt sold, money is given to a charity via Buy1Give1