Bryan Rhode – The Socks that make the man

Intro Outro: Are you a work at home rock star, or do you dream of becoming one? Then you found the right podcast, your hosts, Tim Melanson talks with successful work at home rock stars to learn their secrets and help you in your journey. Are you ready to rock? Here’s tim?

Tim Melanson: Hello, and welcome to today’s episode of the work at home rockstar podcast.

Excited for today’s episode, he is the founder of acumen apparel. And what he does is he helps men solve problems with their clothing. I’m very excited to be rocking out today with Brian Rhode. Brian, are you ready to rock?

Bryan Rhode: I’m ready to rock Tim. Thanks for having me.

Tim Melanson: Perfect. So let’s start off on a good note.

Tell me the story of success in your business so we can be inspired by

Bryan Rhode: sure. We, uh, set out to actually. Super high quality materials. We can get into a little bit more about the function and the problem solving, but I wore dress shirts for years in a corporate environment and our dress shirts turned out.

Absolutely fantastic. And another component of the apparel line that we make our socks literally to stop the socks in the world. I guarantee it anybody who tries them, they are the best. And we sort of backed into being really successful with those. We went through seven factories and finally landed on one that was absolutely out of this world.

That was a story of success for us, right on. Yes, it is. Now. It was one of those things where they were largely a functional item and, you know, part of this set that we created and, you know, we went through so many factories and they products we were getting were just terrible. And we kept looking for different materials and going through all kinds of different combinations and ultimately what we ended up with, uh, even exceeded our expectations.

That was definitely a story of success for us.

Tim Melanson: Will that take some, some drive? I imagine, right. And probably some disappointment along the way.

Bryan Rhode: Yes. There were some dark days. I didn’t was not sure at times whether we were actually going to be able to put this whole thing together. And, uh, you know, I just kept saying to myself, it can’t be this hard to make socks, but apparently it was.

And you know, at the end of the day we put the work in, put the time. And ultimately succeeded beyond our expectations. So that was a positive. Yeah. Well, I think

Tim Melanson: that’s the thing is if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. So there’s gotta be some block there somewhere.

Bryan Rhode: That’s so true. It’s so true. Yeah, exactly.

You know, you is an entrepreneur and I know you’re aware of many of your guests that have listened to our as well. You know, it’s one obstacle after another and you just have to be persistent and keep going. And you know, there’s plenty of times on the journey where you think. No way we’re going to get past this one.

You know, this is, this is the death now of the business, but yeah, I just figured out a way around it and not everything’s going to be perfect or exactly how you want it, but you know, you keep working and keep improving, keep iterating and keep pivoting. And ultimately, you know, you will find success if you just stay at it and are persistent.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, I agree. A hundred percent. So now we also talk about the bad note, which is the thing that doesn’t go as far as well. It isn’t as inspirational. So I’m wondering like along that path, is there one that really sticks out for you that you were like, oh yeah, that was something that I didn’t go well. And how did.

Bryan Rhode: Yeah. I mean, I was, um, you know, I had to find folks who can help me with a lot of the technical services as I described them for making the garments. And it took me a while to land on the right person. Somebody really had a lot of experience and particularly getting the shirts made. Right. And we went through and wasted a lot of time.

And finally, you know, combination of a team. We’re able to get things so that they really fit well and had the look in the field that we wanted, but that took a while. And that was not a skill that I have. And 10, you were telling me how you’re a programmer and you know, how your progression and your career has been.

You know, that was just not something that I had. It wasn’t from the apparel industry, and I didn’t know how to do it, but I’ve learned a lot about it. I’ve at least learned enough now where I can sort of check the work and make sure that it’s done. Appropriately, but it took me a while to find the right people to really build this out and, uh, went through a couple of hiccups along the way.

Tim Melanson: So how did you end up finding the right people? Like, what was it? Was it a mindset change? Was it a,

Bryan Rhode: um, you know, I started with some apps like Upwork and things like that to try and find folks. And I’ve had varied success with the. And ultimately, you know, I started looking around on LinkedIn and I just started putting in the types of skill sets that I needed. And I found a gentleman who had just left a larger apparel company who had all the skillset that I needed.

And he on his LinkedIn page had said he had just essentially been laid off and was looking for opportunities. So I reached out to him and it turns out he had just picked up a new gig and. Yeah, it wasn’t going to be able to help me, but he had a good friend who had also gotten laid off who had a very complimentary skillset.

And he connected me with her. She connected me with a few other folks and it just sort of worked that way. I mean, you know, it wasn’t, um, know it was kind of a random stab in the dark, you know, I just, you know, he was literally the first person that I’d found on LinkedIn that seemed to fit the bill. And the first one I contacted and that led me to some other folks.

So, um, you know, there are all those resources out there. And if you just pull on the string longer, Yeah, hopefully it comes to the right folks, but you know, I think the lesson I learned from that was, you know, it is helpful when you meet somebody who can recommend a person and can speak to their capabilities and, you know, when they hear you out and what you want, as opposed to just looking at a resume or a, a write-up on Upwork or fiver or one of these other plans.

Tim Melanson: Nice. Yeah, I think there’s a lot to take out of that really, because I think the first thing really is that, uh, well I had somebody who was a LinkedIn expert on the show just a few episodes ago and, uh, that platform is extremely useful. Specific professionals that you’re looking for. Right. And so, you know, using a platform like that, it’s definitely recommended if you’re looking for certain people, but then Upwork is also great if you’re looking for, if you’re not as picky right.

On what you’re looking for. So, uh, but I think the, the thing that you said about the referrals, this is great. Cause I mean, you could have easily. You know, stopped at him. And he said, no, okay. Off I go. But you know, going through the referrals of people that you think are good fits is a great way to get, to get to the person that you need. Right.

Bryan Rhode: Exactly. And he was super helpful. And I found that with a lot of people in this industry, like they want to help you. They want to see you succeed. And you know, if you’re in the industry, you know, the right people and I wasn’t from the industry. So I’m grateful to him for, uh, Being really helpful and just pointing me in the right direction.

And it really turned things around or really got us in a positive direction. So that was the lesson learned. And, you know, I hadn’t used LinkedIn extensively prior to that, even when I was in the corporate world, you know, I just didn’t use it that often, but I can be a very powerful platform. And I did listen to that episode with your guests to have the business about writing the LinkedIn profiles, which would be really helpful because I’m just inherently not very good at those kind of things.

Resumes and biographies and things, but there definitely is some, some tricks to the trade, I think. And if you can find somebody that’s really good at it, it can, it can make a difference both for you professionally and for your business. Yeah,

Tim Melanson: I think, well, and I think the takeaway there is, there is an expert for everything out there.

If there’s anything that you’re looking for, that you could find somebody that’s really good at doing it. Right?

Bryan Rhode: Yeah. Yeah. But the referral part was, was really key. And I think you hit on that, that helped. Yeah, you’re kind of approaching it blind. You can do an interview if you find somebody on a different platform, but that’s always helpful to hear somebody who has worked with them and can vouch for them.

Tim Melanson: Yep. Yeah, exactly. So now speaking of experts and getting the expert practices so important, I know in the music world, but also in the business world, because, uh, you know, you, you, you. Go from where you are in any time you start something, you’re not gonna be very good at it. You have to, you have to get to the point where you’re actually very good at it.

And so I’m wondering in your business and in your world, how do you approach your practice?

Bryan Rhode: Absolutely. So, you know, our dress shirts in particular, you know, we’ve essentially done three releases at this point. Our third release should ship tomorrow and we’ll have those hopefully ready to go by March, but each one we’ve gotten better.

So. You know, I learned, we bound shirts and it design in a style that we liked. And we took some components of that, added some components of other shirts that we liked. And we came up with our first release, which is really good. That fabric’s terrific. But then the second one, we improved on a couple of things, you know, we found some nice touches.

You know, some other different trick companies do. And we said, well, let’s add that in. And no third release we’re even better. We have, you know, many more styles. Now we started with one and we’re up to eight, uh, different styles. And, you know, the style can be just something as different as like grow grain around the collar and CMI that I’m wearing now.

You know, our practice, you know, by going through this process, you know, we have a stable supply chain now with one factory that we work with primarily, and each iteration that we go through, we get better. And that’s an exciting thing. And the scary thing about the business to. You know, I feel us getting better.

I know we’re getting better, but it’s also a matter of, you know, we’ve got to stay alive long enough to keep growing and keep improving and you can see that growth is the entrepreneur, but you know, it takes awhile to demonstrate that to the world and your customers. Yeah, this is even better than the one before.

Yeah,

Tim Melanson: yeah. Yeah. It takes a certain mindset. I think, to be able to recognize that where you are right now is not where you’re going to be and also be okay with that because you got to do something, right. I mean, if you had waited for it to be perfect, would you have shirts out there right now?

Bryan Rhode: No. Cause, cause it’s never going to be perfect and you know, that’s actually a great point and that’s a lesson that I had to learn.

As an entrepreneur, because I am inherently a perfectionist and you know, there will be, people will talk about sort of your minimum viable product and you just got to get it out there in the market. I think for some products that works well for some products, you do need to have it a little bit more refined before you get into the marketplace.

Uh, but it’s never going to be perfect. And, you know, A big part of your learning process is going to be feedback from your customers. So if you don’t actually put something out there that you’re still trying to refine it and refine it and refine it, you’re never going to get that feedback. And you’re never going to have that learning that you’ll get from the marketplace.

Tim Melanson: Yep. Yeah, exactly. And I think I’ve heard so many people say good enough, you know, that’s good enough. Good enough to get out there. Okay. Let’s, let’s get some feedback on this, right? Yeah.

Bryan Rhode: Yeah. And we’ve always strived, you know, It’s a consumer product. So it needs to be of high quality. And we want to build a lot of brand trust.

So we’re very proud of what we put out there. And like I told you, you know, we’ve been at this, you know, I started this journey two and a half years ago. We didn’t, it took two years before we got to launch. And a part of that was COVID. Um, part of that was just the learning curve for me. But, you know, we did take the time to get these products, uh, up to the level that we wanted them.

You know, to your point as well, we’re still practicing, still improving, still getting better. The band is hopefully going to continue to improve over the years. Uh,

Tim Melanson: you definitely will. Or, or, or not. I mean, it might end up being a pivot, right. But that’s.

Bryan Rhode: We found some things, you know, we were talking earlier and, you know, the socks that we, we produced, um, you know, we’re going to start selling those in a more standalone fashion, just because, you know, one of the things that we learned from the marketplace, the feedback we’ve gotten are these things are absolutely fantastic.

You know, one of the gentlemen that I worked. Helped us the marketing, you know, he said, and he wears dress socks all the time. So these are literally this office and they’ve never put on my feet. My mother wears them around the house. Men’s dress socks because they’re more comfortable than her slippers.

And, you know, we got that feedback and we’re like, oh, we should probably put a lot more emphasis on these because we got something here. And, uh, you know, it took a long time to get it, but it wasn’t the focus necessarily when we started, but it was something that we just ended up with a really great. Yeah, well,

Tim Melanson: back before I was living the rockstar lifestyle, I worked dress dress socks, and they were not comfy.

Yeah. I mean, you go out there. I mean,

Bryan Rhode: most, I mean the vast majority are cotton. Um, so there’s nothing particularly special about them. They just sucks. Yeah. Their socks are kind of a little bit rough. Um, you know, and when you compare them to ours, which, I mean, ours are almost like hosiery. They’re so soft.

There’s silky almost. You know, I mentioned to you, I was surprised at how difficult it was to get socks made. We went through seven different factories before we finally found the right partner and all the previous iterations. I kept thinking to myself, gosh, it can’t be this hard to get a pair of peace and socks made.

Apparently it is. And you made the good point. Otherwise everybody else would be doing it. And, uh, you know, w it was worth the work. It was worth the stretch, because now what we have is, is truly, and I have to say this without reservation, they are the best in the world, and I guarantee it, and I’m so proud of them.

And, you know, Only challenge now is to get the word out and get more patterns and designs so that people can find everything that they’re looking for.

Tim Melanson: Hey, rockstars, it’s Tim here. Hope you enjoy this episode. And if you are, feel free to leave us a review while I’ve got you here. I want this to tell you about my business.

Creative Crew agency is a one-stop shop for your online business. We provide graphic design websites, ongoing support hosting, and so much more. If you’re looking for a shiny new website. Some technical help with your current platform, feel free to visit creative crew agency.com and book a time to talk, go back to the show.

So let’s talk about instruments to success. So what are the instruments? What are the tools that you use in your business to get to.

Bryan Rhode: Yeah. So, you know, part of it was, you know, some of those networks like LinkedIn, um, and also starting with Upwork and Fiverr, and I’ve had, again, some mixed experiences with those, but I’ve had some good ones and those have been good instruments.

Other instruments for me, honestly, have been going to a lot of industry and trade shows and, you know, they have been impacted and are, you know, much, fewer and far between with COVID. So that is another hurdle that I’ve had to overcome. But when I first started. That’s how I learned, you know, I go to these things for a couple of days and not only what I walk around and see the different factories and companies that are producing things, but I would talk to them and learn about their factories, learn about the process.

I was the one who goes to the speakers on the trade show and listen to them and, you know, just pick people’s brains. So for somebody who wasn’t from the industry, those are really helpful just to see how it functions and operates to network a little bit. And just glean what information that I could and then take that and apply it to the business.

And, you know, once we’ve launched the business, you know, we’re still figuring out what the right tools are for selling the product and, you know, digital advertising. Not probably what I expected it to be. And you know what? The iOS changes, it’s a little less effective, but you hear a lot about how targeted and detailed and focused you can be with digital advertising.

But at the same time, I think the part that is left out from some of the companies that advertise for that is that it’s really saturated and people are just overwhelmed. Ads, and you really need to hone your message and figure out how you’re going to sell your product and what the fundamental core, uh, communication that you want to make to your customers to try and win them over.

And so that’s something that I’m still learning, but you know, also trying the different tools, like how do you use Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or other social media platforms to get your message out? How do you have original content that gets people’s attention? How do you explain your product in a way.

Uh, it’s easily digestible and quickly digestible for that very few seconds that you may have somebody whose attention. And, uh, so some of those tools, again, I think helped get to the point where we were an operating and functioning business and you know, some of those tools I’m still figuring out.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, I think that, so the way you started off by going to trade shows and all that stuff and meeting with people.

That really is the traditional way of sales. I mean, you, you create a relationship, you get to know people, right. And you’re right about online. It’s it’s, it really is a challenge sometimes to get your personality across in a pop-up, you know, how do you do that? Yeah. How do you do that effectively? Um, and I mean, there are ways you can do it in a, we could probably talk about that.

Because there are ways that you could transfer your personality into, uh, the social media world. And we probably all will need to, especially on your future. Uh, but you know, going back to your point about going to trade shows and all that stuff, and this kind of leans into the learning from the best next.

What I’ve noticed is that when I talk to people who have had success, I find that they’re very easy to talk to. And they’re very open about helping you with whatever you’re doing. Is that what you’re noticing as well?

Bryan Rhode: Absolutely. Yes. You know, the people that are the most successful are not close hold and information.

They’re more than happy to share. And interestingly, you know, I had a friend who is in venture capital, who. It connected me with a couple of guys who had apparel companies, even one that does dress shirts. And, you know, I told him before he introduced me and I said, you know, I’m going to be competing with him.

Are you sure he wants to talk to me? He’s like, yeah, man. He’s like, these guys are great. You know, the rising tide raises all boats, kind of guys and they work and they were just terrific. And, um, and immensely grateful for that time that they spent with me. chat through things, because I know as an entrepreneur, particularly when you’re starting out and you’re wearing every hat, how busy you get and, um, you know, how difficult it can be to keep all the balls in the air, but to take the time to chat with me and, you know, give advice and help me to learn from mistakes that they’ve made was, uh, enormously beneficial.

So I think you’re right. And, you know, if, and when I have the opportunity to pay it forward, I certainly will.

Tim Melanson: Right now, do you have any other types of coaches? Like, do you do officially hire coaches for your business?

Bryan Rhode: I haven’t hired coaches, but you know, I have just by the place where I happen to live, I have a few neighbors, a number of them are all entrepreneurs.

So I have a few buddies who I talked to you from time to time. And I have, uh, just a surprising number of friends who have had their own businesses or have their own side hustle. I can learn from, and I can glean stuff from whether it’s, you know, got one buddy sold cups on Amazon. I’ve got another guy, uh, who does, uh, receipt, paper and wine shipping boxes.

And, um, a friend of mine, she has her own sort of board game. And, you know, she went through the he’s been at it for six or seven years. I’ve uh, another, uh, friend down the street. She has her own female or women’s apparel. Paul cabana life, it’s sun protective clothing, and she’s had that for 16 years. So, uh, none, one official, but you know, they have all been a terrific resource for me.

And when I have questions like, Hey, do you have a good photographer? Um, I need to get some models. You know, one of my friend’s daughter does some modeling and you know, things like that, so that, you know, we sort of help each other out with resources and advice.

Tim Melanson: Well, all that counts for sure. I mean, you are who you hang around with.

And I think that a lot of people don’t have the opportunity to be around as many entrepreneurs as you, as you have. Although I do think that now the world is changing and there are a lot more entrepreneurs now than there ever was. I mean, I’ve been doing this for 15 years and when I first started. Uh, it is true.

I did have a circle of entrepreneurs that I was already in, which you know, which comes first, the chicken or the egg, right. And an entrepreneur now, because of, because of them or whatever. But, uh, but that’s the thing is that through, through time you continue to kind of put yourself around these entrepreneurial types.

And they’re always helpful because you’re right though, the rising tide raises all ships. We, we all get better by helping other people get better. Yeah.

Bryan Rhode: Yeah. I mean the, my friend who has the command of life company, you know, I have coffee with her from time to time and, you know, we started. Approaching retail vendors more quickly than we thought we would.

And I remember having coffee with her and she had this thing in front of her home. I said, well, what’s that, that’s a line sheet. You need a line sheet. If you’re going to go talk to retailers. And I was like, okay, check noted. I will make a line sheet. And, uh, it’s just little things like that, that I’ve learned from her.

You know, she’s been in the industry for so long and she’s great with social media and partnerships and cross marketing and, you know, so. You know how she does things and, uh, you know, to some extent, you know, try and follow in her. Right

on. Uh, well, and, and, uh, another thing that I I’m actually looking to get started is a, is a, uh, a monthly, uh, or maybe even a weekly mastermind where you get in a few of these ma like-minds together regularly to talk about this kind of stuff.

Um, because I mean, Hey, it can be a lonely world out here, isn’t it?

Yeah. Well, I mean, actually the way that I’m at Andrea, that woman. With RPR was through a similar call. There was a gentleman in south Florida who is the friend of a friend, and he does a weekly networking call. And so he tries to put together people of, you know, industries and cross sections that could help each other.

And. One hour call and you spend, you get, I think everybody gets like three or four minutes to talk about their business and they have a sort of general discussion and, uh, everybody exchanges contact information. And, you know, that’s how I met her, was through that. And, uh, it can be really effective if you take a very concerted approach to it.

Tim Melanson: Absolutely. And so now it is time for your solo. So tell me about your, uh, your business. What’s it. Yeah.

Bryan Rhode: So, you know, fundamentally the ethos of the ACUMEN brand is we want to solve problems. For men. And we want to empower men to go out into the world and feel, and look good so that they can take on whatever tasks that are focused on and succeed.

And so what we started with was this acumen set, and it’s an amazing dress shirt. It is a pair of shirt stays, which connect your shirt and your socks, and they keep your shirt tucked in and your socks pulled up. And that’s our signature product right now. And again, as we’ve talked about, the socks are absolutely amazing.

The shirts are. Tailor fit. They’re terrific shirts. We have a number of different categories to sort of outfit the complete man. We have our executive for the office. Guys. We have our disruptor shirts for, you know, a night on the town or out with clients. And then we have entrepreneur shirts which are super stretchy and a little more relaxed.

And then we have our Renaissance man category, which is your evening wear tuxedo shirts. And the Genesis of this was this, this problem that I had when I was in the corporate world, where. You know, with men’s fashion sort of slim down, which I liked. I was finding that every time I stood up from my desk, that I was having to tuck my shirt back in and also seeing those guys with their shirts, sorta hanging out and looking kind of disheveled.

And that’s not how you want to be when you’re trying to dress to impress. And you know, I’d come across short, stays in the military, but they were impractical for daily use. So I created. New system. And we had engineers that helped us design the insurance stays. So they’re much easier to put on much more secure, much more comfortable.

And that’s what we’re trying to solve, what that problem is to keep that shirt talk, but also give you a great shirt and great socks and you know, our next product, which should be here next week, our undershirts and. Yeah, I’m sure there’s a million guys out there. Have a nice form fitted dress shirt, but they’re wearing, you know, fruit of the loom cotton.

T-shirt that shrinks to a third of its size after you wash it. Once it’s all bunched up around your waist and it’s wrinkled underneath your shirt. And, you know, we started to solve that problem. We had this amazing modal material. It’s form-fitting we cut it long. So it stays tucked in underneath your dress shirt and that.

What we’re trying to do. We’re just trying to continue to build out products that solve problems, bring us so that, you know, if you’re going to make that pitch to the board or a huge key sales pitch, you look great. You don’t have to worry about it. You’re not having a shirt hanging out or your socks bunched up around your ankles.

You know, they’ve got that big, first date. You’re trying to impress someone, you know, you’re not, you know, Looking unimpressive, you’re looking, uh, to the nine so to speak. And that’s our goal is to produce just quality products, give guys confidence to go out and then love it.

Tim Melanson: And they’re surprisingly not very many people in this space, I don’t think.

Right.

Bryan Rhode: Yeah. And you and Tim, you made a great point earlier, you were saying like, how do you convey sort of the ethos and the, the power of a brand, you know, in a pop up. And it’s so hard to do. And I love getting on podcasts and having the chance to talk about it because. Yeah, this brand and what we want it to be is really a cheerleader for God’s.

I mean, it’s, this is about empowering guys and it’s about, you know, giving you all those tools that you need to take on the world. One of the taglines that we use is we want to solve your problems so you can solve the worlds. And that’s what we really believe. And there just aren’t enough brands out there.

I think that are really empowering to men. And, you know, that’s hard to convey, you know, we really need customers to try the brand, you know, What we’re doing, take some time to get familiar with it. And as we grow, hopefully that message will become more clear and become a more pervasive out there. And people will understand it and identify us with it.

But you know, is the, these beginning stages. That’s what we’re trying to communicate, but it’s not easy. It’s not easy to get that message out.

Tim Melanson: No, but I, I do think you’re right. The podcasts are a good place to start.

Bryan Rhode: Yeah. You can talk about it in a way that, uh, You just can’t do and quick digital media advertisement.

Tim Melanson: I agree. So how do we find out more information? How do we get these shirts

Bryan Rhode: and your socks? Yeah, so we’re in, uh, we’re at shop acumen.com and we have a terrific website and for the set, which I mentioned, you know, we have an amazing bundler that we’ve put together on the website. So it literally takes you through step by step.

It is shirt short-stay socks, it flows very easily. It’s very simple to go through it. Look at the different categories. And purchase that way. And, uh, we’re just sort of starting our retail journey. So we’re just got our second retail story yesterday, which we’ll be delivering two on a Wednesday, so tomorrow, and hopefully we’ll continue to build, uh, retail partnerships out and, you know, be able to talk about some of our permanent partners on the, in the retail space.

But right now, primarily the website. So shop acumen.com, check us out. You can find us on social media. I can in a pair on LinkedIn and Facebook and, uh, please follow us like us and find out more about what we’re doing.

Tim Melanson: Awesome. Thanks so much, Brian, for rocking out with me today. That’s great.

Bryan Rhode: Oh man. My pleasure.

Thanks Tim. This was fun.

Tim Melanson: to the listeners. Make sure you subscribe, rate and comment. We’ll see you next time on the work at home rockstar podcast.

Intro Outro: Thanks for listening to learn how you can become a work at home rockstar, or become a better one, head on over to workathomerockstar.com today.