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Steven Mazur, co-founder and CEO of Ash & Anvil, a clothing company for short guys. Steven co-founded the company last year and he\u2019s excited about how many dedicated customers their store already has. Tune in to hear how Steven\u2019s getting inventory orders right; the importance of connecting with the entrepreneurs around you; and why everything always takes longer than you think.\xa0

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Famous 5:

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• Favorite Book? \u2013 How To Win Friends And Influence People
• What CEO do you follow? \u2014 Andy Dunn
• Favorite online tool? \u2014 Wunderlist

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?\u2014 No
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? \u2014 Everything takes longer than you think it will

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Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:20 \u2013 Nathan\u2019s introduction
• 01:51 \u2013 Welcoming Steven to the show
• 02:06 \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m 5\u2019 6\u201d, my business partner\u2019s 5\u2019 8\u201d - we decided to be the ones to make clothes for shorter guys\u201d
• 02:56 \u2013 Started with an IndieGoGo campaign with a $10k goal, and ended up generating $26k in pre-orders
• 03:40 \u2013 The bestseller is their blue gingham shirt
• 04:55 \u2013 The price of the shirt is $69 - what are the margins on that?
• 05:20 \u2013 Base unit cost at a low volume is around $25
• 05:35 \u2013 Around a 55% gross margin at this point
• 06:00 \u2013 First run of shirts was 1000 units
• 06:35 \u2013 Steven doesn\u2019t have a figure for net margin at this point
• 07:30 \u2013 How do you handle the challenge of ordering the right amount of inventory?
• 07:50 \u2013 The company is self-funded
• 08:31 \u2013 \u201cIt always takes longer than you think to order\u201d
• 08:53 \u2013 Founded in 2015
• 09:11 \u2013 The team is currently just Steven and his co-founder Eric
• 09:37 \u2013 The most important metrics for them are revenue, number of customers, and re-order rate
• 10:50 \u2013 Close to having 1000 unique customers at the moment
• 11:24 \u2013 The next order is 1,250 shirts
• 12:10 \u2013 Average customer buys 1.5 shirts
• 12:32 \u2013 Total revenue in 2015 was $50k
• 13:30 \u2013 What\u2019s Venture For America?
• 14:00 \u2013 It\u2019s a startup program that places entrepreneurs in struggling American cities, like Detroit, and helps them connect with investors and other start-ups
• 16:03 \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s been a big part of our story\u201d
• 10:45 \u2013 Connect with Steven at Ash & Anvil

• 18:40 \u2013 The Famous Five

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3 Key Points:

• It takes 10 years to build an overnight success: focus on the long-term and be patient
• Engage with the smart people around you. Be part of your community and your ecosystem
• Start the company that you want to exist - but check that other people want it too

Resources Mentioned:

• Host Gator \u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
• Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
• Leadpages\xa0 \u2013 The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
• Audible \u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.

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• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

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