How does a new business take shape? From the first idea to the first sale the journey can be winding. Jason Hammerberg at Hammer Made custom shirts shares the steps he took to go from a business plan to reality. Inspiration, connections, partnerships and perseverance can lead to success. To hear the entire conversation check out So Much More Ep. 67: Hammer Made; An Entrepreneur’s Story.
[00:00:00] So I came out of the corporate world. I was in the Dayton's department stores. And as that whole thing shuffled around and it became other department stores, I went out and worked for a couple startups myself before starting my own. And through that journey, those other startups both failed. And I thought, you know, if I'm going to go in and put all this time and effort into a startup, I want it to be mine. I didn't really understand the depth of that until I did that.
[00:00:25] And so, you know, you get out, you write the business plan, you start writing the checks, you start bringing in, you know, shirts and things like that. The problem was at the time I had a large hockey bag that held about 30 shirts. And I would put all of the customer's size shirt in there. So they're all kind of like size 16, kind of a large, put them in there, drop them off, and they would pick the shirts that they like and they'd leave a check. Yes, there was no Venmo or anything like that. And leave me a physical check.
[00:00:53] And I would pick the hockey bag back up. And I just couldn't get enough volume, you know, from that. So I would do that again, sell shirts, bring more in. And each time those built and I would have more customers, but never enough to do anything monetarily. So I slowly dwindled down my savings. And then I dwindled down my 401k. And then I ran up my credit cards. And at the very end, I figured out I actually had a pension from Target. I was like, yes.
[00:01:22] You know, empty it. So I was all in. And then at the same time, all out. So I had a conversation with a friend of mine from church who's an older guy, just like a sage, you know, kind of lived a good life type of dude.
[00:01:38] And we're sitting and I'm pouring out my story and he's sipping his soup. And I'm like, you know, I'm out of money. I can't find a lease. I can't this. I can't that. I'm like, I don't know what to do. I'm feeling like I'm not participating in the family, right? I'm not, you know, I'm draining. I'm not contributing.
[00:01:55] And he's like, are you sure God wants you in this? And I'm like, how do I know that? What do I do to figure that out? And so I literally went out to my car. We were sitting at Perkins on like 50th and Highway 100. And I went out there and I was just like, I have no idea. I'm like, I'm all out. God, if I'm not doing something right or if I'm doing something wrong, let me know. Make it clear. Just make the wheels fall off.
[00:02:23] And so I got out of the parking lot and I turned to go north to Highway 100 to drive back to my house. I'm like, this is over, right? Like go back, get a corporate job, you know, get into your responsibilities. And the opposite thing happened. So Warren Beck from the Galleria called me within two days, said, hey, I have a space for you. It's about 550 square feet. I think it's great for you. An investor that is a co-owner today said, hey, I sold my business. I'd be willing to put in money.
[00:02:51] I immediately got shirts started. I started construction right away. And literally the night before Thanksgiving, so Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, we had the barricade up. Everybody's inside, family, friends, steaming shirts, getting ready. Nine o'clock, they pull the barricade down. And after the mall closes, right, the next day is Thanksgiving. For some reason, my wife and I host Thanksgiving. I don't know why, right?
[00:03:17] So add one more thing into the mix. Yeah. Finish Thanksgiving dinner, figure out we need to go get change. And the next day we opened at the Galleria, like Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year. So it was just like this.
[00:03:30] Wow.
[00:03:30] Yeah.
[00:03:31] The signs were there.
[00:03:32] Well, and it was one of those things where I couldn't tell that story because it really changed me as an individual at the same time, right? I look back over the last 15 years and the ups and downs and really what business is, right? You have to manage through the ups and the downs.
[00:03:47] So before you go, I know it's a lot of them because I've been working on the first store.