SUCCESS STORIES IN THEIR OWN WORDS

Actually around that same time, I got super burnt out on just working all the time, and it had become hard growing that fast. So, my wife and I bought a five-wheel RV and hopped in it and traveled around the country for about a year and a half. Which was a really fun and rewarding experience and a great time to get to knowmy kids a little bit better since I wasn't working 16 hours a day at that point, but it really was not great for the business. So I learned a lot of really hard lessons through that. Around that same time I got sued and just was dealing with a lot of big adult things that I had previously not experienced in my more punk rock lifestyle. So I grew up pretty fast and over the last five years, the company has continued to grow. We've learned a lot and repaired a lot of damages just to become more of an actual business, I guess. Instead of just, you know, shooting from the hip type of thing. Marshall Atkinson So, welcome to being a professional. Brett Bowden Yeah. That's what my lawyer said. Marshall Atkinson Who are your customers? Because you've started and you've had some stops and starts. But you were really always focusing on a couple of core segments, right? Brett Bowden Yeah. So it was easy for us coming out of music to selling merch to other bands. 'Cause we still knew a lot of bands and the bands that I knew by that point that we’re still around were pretty successful. So being able to sell shirts to them, and then also selling to bands, brands, bars, and churches, which is still relative to them. And now, we had started selling merch to rock bands. I came across a clothing line that was becoming increasingly popular in our area. I just happened by them at a booth at an event and talked to them and so we started printing for that clothing line. We were printing for a lot of bars just because I had friends that owned and ran bars, and then, churches and in Texas, you know, churches are huge. So there's a lot of churches around here that have like 40,000 members, crazy stuff like that. And they order a lot of shirts so, we kind of fit right into the middle of all of that. And as the company has grown and I've learned a lot more about myself and who I am. As a person, I like to be involved in things, and I like to help other people. And a lot of that time of the last five years, I've spent helping other people in our industry by being involved in organizations within our industry. And recently, we focused my thoughts on being more involved in my local community and being involved in what I'm sitting in right around me. And so, being a part of our community here and helping other businesses around here grow, whether it's a restaurant, or a gym, or something that, you know, some guy just like me 10 years ago, decided to start a business. Like, how can I steward my knowledge in a way to, help businesses like that?

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