7 Lessons I Learned From Owning a Onesie Company

Well, we made it to three years! As 2017 winds down, Kellen and I have decided to close up shop of our onesie company startup, Funsies Onesies. It was a tough decision, but we’ve both decided to focus elsewhere on adventures that align a bit more with our passions and life goals. As we made this decision recently, I thought it’d be valuable to reflect on these past three years of this unique experience owning a onesie company and share what I’ve learned from start to finish.

ALERT: If you don’t really care at all about what I’ve learned and just want to get your hands one of those onesies before they’re gone, they are available here until we close up shop on December, 21st 2017. Use discount code FRNDSANDFAM to snag a few for just $25.00 each.

Thinking back, there are so many highlights of our experience from 2014 to now. To name a few: Our first ever onesie party in Denver, launching a Kickstarter campaign, sorting through boxes of onesies in Kellen's basement, shooting weird videos and photos, being featured in the Chicago Tribune, having our friends wear our onesies in strange places, and being continually amazed at the copious amount of support from our friends and family. A well deserved shoutout goes out to both of our significant others, Caryn Struttman and Amanda Earle, who continued to be our biggest supporters of all. To reflect upon these three kickass years, here are the seven lessons I learned from owning a onesie company.

1. The people you work with matter most.

Kellen and I have known each other for 18 years (over half of our lifetime). Over these 18 years, we've formed a pretty solid sense of each others strengths and weaknesses and obtained an elevated level of respect for each other that can only come with time. This level of comfort and trust in each other made this project seamless to pass work back and forth and rely on each other when gaps needed to be filled. There was no anger, greed or inflamed egos to muddy up our path. We stayed positive and stepped up to the plate, no matter what type of pitches were coming our way. And to be clear, this company wasn't just me and Kellen. I consider all of our friends that posed as models, shipped and packed onesies, counted inventory, danced on lake docks, filmed videos, brainstormed ideas, helped with social media, and beyond, all to be included in this incredible group of people we were fortunate to work with. They've made this experience feel like the world's most epic three-year-long onesie party! If I were to do this again, I would continue to work only with the people that I could fully trust, respect and who were up for anything!

2. I'd take real-world experience over an MBA.

The past three years have taught me more about actual business principles than any school or corporate experience ever has. Creating a brand, designing a product, bringing it to market, implementing a marketing strategy, executing a sales plan, working with overseas manufacturers, balancing finances, coordinating logistics, communicating with customers. All of these real world experiences were indescribably monumental to help me learn the nuances of how businesses operate. We made a lot of mistakes that I now know how to mitigate next time around. Valuable life lessons are learned when you risk thousands of dollars on a crucial, time sensitive business decision. The difference when getting a MBA is that you've already handed over those thousands of dollars on tuition and there's no way you're getting them back. It's true; I won't have a textured piece of papyrus to hang on my wall. But for me personally, I guarantee that the practical business experiences I learned will be more beneficial in the long run.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with a MBA. My point is that if you want to learn what business is really like, wouldn't you rather learn by doing? Wouldn't you rather invest your time into a real-world venture that you've personally created and that has tangible potential? For me and the experience I've gained, I wouldn't trade these past three years for anything. If I were to do this over again, I would have less fear of failure and view every minute and every dollar spent as a well-invested learning experience.

3. Crowdfunding can work, but know what to expect.

I had this crowdfunding-is-really-easy-and-we-can-make-a-good-chunk-of-cash-and-business-will-be-chill perception when we started this journey. And wow was I in for a shock. Crowdfunding campaigns take hours and hours of strategic planning and execution to be successful. Hours and hours that I now believe could be used more effectively in other areas of building your business. Crowdfunding is beneficial for testing your business concept without much up front cash investment, but it's important to know what to expect before diving in. From a sales perspective, crowdfunding almost always translates to razor thin margins. You're essentially trading your time, energy, and profit for brand awareness and market validation. The $16,138 we raised was meant to cover our initial startup costs, fund our first production run, and have a little cash to grow the product line for the following year. Our margins didn't allow much wiggle room, especially when we had a shipping issue and ended up having to pay 3x the price for expedited shipping from China. We took the loss to make sure all product arrived in customers hands before the holidays. If I were to do this over again, I would not do a Crowdfunding campaign. I would create a great product, create a great brand, create a great website, and sell direct to consumers online. I'd fund the first production run using personal savings or by taking out a small loan. Then I'd use Google Adwords and SEO to drive traffic to my site and grow the company this way. Once the business concept was proven, I'd then use Crowdfunding as a new product launch marketing tool.

4. Do less.

Who doesn't love Forgetting Sarah Marshall? One of my favorite lines is when Paul Rudd is teaching Jason Segel how to surf and says, "You're doing too much, do less." So often, companies of all sizes try to get too damn tricky before actually nailing down the basics. For us, we had hundreds of ideas for weird patterns, unique materials, and funky designs that we considered. "Let's do kids onesies! Let's do cat onesies! How about those Borat swimsuit style onesies?" After hours of talking through product ideas, we made the call to stick with one single product and iron out all of the details first. We tested different types of materials. Different colors. Different designs. Our friends tried on samples and gave feedback on the fit. We had our supplier ship many different iterations of samples for us all to test, markup and improve. At the end of it all, The Funsies Original is the only product we ever created and looking back, I'm so glad that we spent the time to get it right. We felt so much more confident about our product and brand knowing that people were going to be rocking the highest quality, coziest, well-designed adult onesie out there. If I were to do this again, I would apply the "Do Less" philosophy in all aspects of the business. I'd continue asking, "How can we simplify this idea? This brand? This go-to-market plan?" If we can't explain it in 20 seconds...WE NEED TO DO LESS.

5. Research the hell out of your company name.

One of the deciding factors in closing the doors to Funsies Onesies was because of our company name. When we were creating the brand, we did a little research and found that Gerber owns the rights to the word 'onesie' and has a history of suing small businesses on Etsy for using the term. At the time, we decided to turn our heads and continue down our path. It seemed like way too much work to change the name. We already had a logo, branding, a website. Fast forward two years later when Denice Dampier came on board to expand our wholesale business. While outreaching to customers, she received feedback from a large US retailer that they loved our product, but wouldn't be able to work with us because of the amount of business they do with Gerber. UGH. It came back around to bite us in the end. We debated solutions, but at this point the only way to grow our business would have been through a complete rebranding. And none of us were interested in taking on that monster of a project. If I were to do this again, I would spend time researching the name of my company (and products) to make sure there weren't any legal concerns lingering.

5. Know your WHY.

A trendy term throughout business culture these days, finding your personal "why" is essential to helping you navigate the world. For Kellen and I, our "why" for starting Funsies Onesies was because we thought it'd be...fun. And lesson learned: "fun" is not nearly enough. "Fun" carried us through the first few years of starting our company, but after awhile we started slowly drifting our focuses into other areas. And those drifts were the first indicators that it was time to move on to something new. In the end, neither of us ended up with a lifelong passion for selling novelty apparel, which is another reason that we decided to wind it down. When you're making a big decision or starting a new business, really take time to sit back and think about your own personal WHY. Read Simon Sinek's book or do some googling on some helpful steps to guide you there. And don't give up. The process can be tiresome and painful, but it's worth it when you arrive at the end. Once you know your WHY, make sure that your big decision or the values of your new business are all in alignment. This is the only way to give yourself a chance of staying motivated and engaged over the long haul. If I were to do this again, I would have spent more time on my own personal why and made sure the business I was starting aligned directly with those values.

6. Your friends and family are essential to your success.

Seriously, I believe they are THE MOST important part of your success. Without each and every family member or friend that supported us from the beginning none of this would have been possible. Just think of all the onesie models we had to corral to dance around in pajamas in the middle of a July heat wave. We viewed Funsies Onesies as a friends and family-owned business. We wanted everyone to be a part of this journey and were so glad everyone was willing to dedicate their own time and effort to make it happen. Trust me, the pictures you see would have been a lot more awkward if it were just me and Kellen using a selfie stick. Some of my most memorable moments of Funsies Onesies will be the time we spent doing weird things in onesies with our friends. The positivity and energy that everyone brought along was the fuel we needed to keep going and stay motivated in what we were doing. Without that type of dedication and support, ideas can't survive. If I were to do this again, I would spend time up front talking to friends and family and seeing if and how they wanted to be involved in the company. Never forced. Always voluntary (maybe a free onesie here and there). It's such a blast when everyone is excited and involved in the movement!

7. It's worth the risk.

Starting anything new involves risk. And risk can be terrifying. Kellen and I went into this endeavor trying to keep costs as low as possible. Both of us were two years out of college, not making a ton of money at our day jobs. We didn't have a ton of extra cash to throw at a new business venture. So instead, we spent our time crafting a risk-averse business model to minimize costs and maximize brand presence. Our marketing plan focused heavily on social media, personal networking, public relations, email, and small Google Adwords spends during peak sales seasons. Although we did have a few crisis moments where we had to dip into our own personal savings, it was totally worth the risk. Even if we hadn't got that money back, the experience and learning that comes with taking some kind of financial risk is worth it. Unforeseen financial risks are guaranteed in any business environment. How will you react in that situation is where the real learning occurs. None of which can be replicated in a classroom. If I were to do this again, I would worry less and take more risks. I would push for more outrageous opportunities that could open other doors for faster and more exciting growth. Let's get weird!

What am I working on now?

After three years working on Funsies, I’ve moved my career focus to learning and education both in business and academic learning. Currently, I'm living in Taipei, Taiwan completing a Master’s degree in Learning and Instruction. Together with the wonderful Caryn Struttman, we recently launched Water Bear Learning where we work with partners to create innovative educational experiences in the online learning space. Caryn continues to help others lead a plant-based, whole food lifestyle through her blog, Veggie Campus. And I continue to improve my YouTube channel, Jam Campus, creating educational music videos to help K-12 students understand challenging concepts. In the upcoming year, we're hoping to move the focus to children creating their own educational music videos. Stay tuned!

And that's it! Thanks again to all of you absolutely incredible people that helped make this onesie journey the most epic onesie journey of all time.

Sincerest Cheers,

Andrew