I had the amazing opportunity to sit down with the CEO of Flylife Clothing, Gerard Payne. If you are an entrepreneur looking for a sign or just words of encouragement to make you take the risk to start your own business, then this is a must read!
- Tell me about yourself and your startup businesses ABG FLYBOYS ENT. & FlyLife Clothing.
In 2006 my friends and I started a promotional event company ABG FLYBOYS through parties in Roanoke, VA. “We hosted the biggest and baddest parties in VA.” Once we made a name for ourselves it was easy to promote to different club owners/groups and it increased profits for the owners for days they weren’t making money. I was able to make a lot of profit because all we had to do was rent out the venues, and get 100% profit return. As we grew older we began to phase out of the entertainment business. We are all still really close, and a reunion may be in the works for the future. I currently host events with my partner Xavier Duckett, and we created the business X & G Promotions. We now appeal to an older crowd by throwing brunch day parties/unique events that the Roanoke area is not accustomed to. The Roanoke area never had a day party until Xavier hosted one. It took some research to see how to incorporate liquor profits to generate revenue. Once we obtained our temporary license for special events we were able to make door and liquor sales.
- How did you go about starting FlyLife Clothing?
FlyLife Clothing came about from the idea of I was tired of wearing other people’s brands, and giving them my money. The concept of FlyLife comes from designing clothes that keep you fly, and it symbolizes the ability to soar. I actually created my business without previous experience in the industry, but I was able to teach myself the concepts of running a business. I have experienced tremendous growth coming from nothing, and now the business is excelling. I was able to set money aside from my day job to I invest in my business. I always had money in the bank, but I calculated what I expected my profit return to be. I don’t like the idea of owing someone, so I didn’t go the loan route. My father instilled the concept in me that if you’re constantly owing someone then you will always be broke. I decided to take a risk because my goal is to essential not work for someone.
- Do you currently have investors?
I invested all my money myself. People have the tendency to be afraid to take risk, but the time is always right if you have stability. I wouldn’t tell someone to invest all of their money into a business and then not be able to cover their bills.
- Do you have people that work for you?
Last year I was solely running my business, and it started to affect my health. I started to network with manufactures on how they could take over the print out and shipping. A small percentage of every item sold goes to the manufacturer, and it keeps the handling distributing the merchandise out of my hands.
- How did you go about getting FlyLife into stores?
One of my friends has a clothing store in the mall, and he reached out to me about putting my merchandise in his store. My network is essentially what landed me these opportunities. When people see my brand, or any project that I am doing they immediately support it.
- What would you say were the highs and lows in your startup businesses?
I struggle with being patient. If the results are not immediate I become frustrated. I had to learn that patience is a virtue when starting a business because you don’t see a profit right away.
- What does the future hold for FlyLife?
My goal is to gain a tremendous amount of growth to really start making profits. I will continue to network, and be innovative in my designs.
- Do you ever plan on selling Flylife to someone else to own?
I would never sell the business as a whole. This is an asset that I created for myself. However, my goal is to have someone running everything for me.
- What is some advice that you would give to entrepreneurs starting out?
Do your research to learn the business, know your target audience, stay patient, and NETWORK!
