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Michael Nemeroff is the CEO and co-founder of RushOrderTees, a fast growing eCommerce custom t-shirt printing and apparel company. Founded in 2002 when Michael was only 17 with his brother and sister, RushOrderTees specializes in screen printing and embroidering services for everyone from teams to small businesses to Fortune 500 companies.

Over the past 18 years, the company has focused on the customer experience by streamlining the entire process with its innovative design studio, incredible service, and the quickest deliveries in the industry.

Most passionate about

• Being in this pandemic, probably what I'm most passionate about is getting the business back in shape after the huge decline we saw. Essentially, when the NBA shut down, we lost 80% of our revenue.
• We want to be the most trusted place where you can get custom t-shirts and custom-printed apparel.
• Right now, we're trying to do blocking and tackling better.

Michael\\u2019s career and story

• This is probably the third business that I started.
• It was like a combination of being on the computer, being a fast typer, and getting lucky that my brother took the first design course, didn't want to do his homework, and gave it to me.
• I turned it into affiliate marketing. I had a need to make money because that's what we needed to survive.
• My dad was kind of done, shutting down his business with my mom and Ben, his friend said to him, \\u201cYou\\u2019re a great sales guy. Come on the road with me door to door. We'll sell shirts to pizza shops and restaurants. I'll show you exactly how it works, where to get the shirts, where to get them printed, and you can be making money this week.\\u201d
• Initially, my dad didn\\u2019t have the mindset to do it but then my brother pushed him to do it. And he actually got in the car with them. In the first two days, they sold three different places. I think it was like making about $1,500.
• I launched a website and a marketing campaign on yellowpages.com. The website just said, \\u201cRussia disease needs t-shirts, click\\u201d and there was a blinking phone number.
• That was the entry into taking custom t-shirts online.
• It was usually a localized business where you would go to a t-shirt shop and meet with the guy. He would tell you when you get them and you'd work out the design with him. So, the online t-shirt idea was a hit.

Best advice for entrepreneurs

• First, I would tell you about how we feel about the customer. I mean, they are the business. Without them, there is no business. We\\u2019ve had to take a very customer-centric approach from the beginning. Otherwise, anything we delivered would have consequences where the customer would be upset.
• Second, I would say is to sell something cheap and quick, or have a proof of concept. Otherwise, you could waste years and hundreds of thousands of dollars on something that might have been just an idea and not worth spending time or money on.

The biggest, most critical failure with customers

• When we were growing the business, the problem was that we over-promised.
• We told too many customers that we would be able to hit their deadline. We actually didn't know that we weren't able to, because we just didn't have the production capacity. We were really young.
• Over-promising and under-delivering is a real issue because you don\\u2019t have to do that. You don\\u2019t have to say you can do something you can\\u2019t do. But I also think it's a part of growing.

Biggest success with customers

• We do one thing\\u2014which is custom t-shirts and apparel\\u2014quickly. That\\u2019s our success.
• We didn't really innovate, but in terms of the industry itself, like making something new, but we brought something to the industry that it didn't have because"