Connor Curran

Episode
Connor Curran is one of the co-owners of Local Laundry, a Canadian made garments company that uses clothing as a vehicle...
Key takeaways
- Starting a business doesn't require perfect planning or expertise—just begin with what you have, learn from mistakes, and adapt along the way instead of waiting for the perfect moment.
- Building genuine relationships with everyone in your business ecosystem, from manufacturers to customers to team members, is the foundation of a successful enterprise and should never be taken for granted.
- Donating money is just one way to give back to your community—sharing stories, collaborating with like-minded organizations, and supporting local manufacturing are equally powerful ways to create positive impact.
- Consumers have the power to shape the economy and society through their purchasing decisions, so it's important to understand where products come from and what conditions exist behind low prices.
- Protecting your sleep, establishing phone-free boundaries, and taking time for quiet reflection are essential practices for maintaining the energy and clarity needed to sustain an entrepreneurial journey.
Transcript
Full transcript page · Interactive episode
============================================================ TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS ============================================================ [00:00] SPEAKER_01: It's Calgary's podcast on the Canada's podcast network. [00:06] SPEAKER_00: Hi, it's Bonnie at LG. [00:08] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Calgary's podcast. [00:11] SPEAKER_00: Today I'm with Connor Kerman. [00:13] SPEAKER_00: Connor is one of the co-owners of Locolandry, a Canadian-made garments company that uses clothing [00:19] SPEAKER_00: as a vehicle to build community. [00:22] SPEAKER_00: Connor started Locolandry four years ago after googling how to start a t-shirt company [00:28] SPEAKER_00: and watch any YouTube video. [00:31] SPEAKER_00: Now Connor works on Locolandry full time with the commitment to donate over $1 million [00:37] SPEAKER_00: to local charities across Canada. [00:40] SPEAKER_00: Locolandry can be found in over 20 stores across the country and is harrathly the importance [00:46] SPEAKER_00: of supporting Canadian manufacturing. [00:49] SPEAKER_00: So Connor, welcome. [00:51] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being with us here today. [00:53] SPEAKER_01: My pleasure. [00:53] SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for having me on the show. [00:55] SPEAKER_01: I'm forward to it. [00:57] SPEAKER_00: Why don't we jump right in and you can tell our listeners a little bit about how you [01:01] SPEAKER_00: actually got started and what drove you to become, I guess we would say, a social entrepreneur. [01:08] SPEAKER_00: Sure, yeah, absolutely. [01:09] SPEAKER_01: So I'd start Locolandry back in 2015. [01:12] SPEAKER_01: My wife and I were living in Sweden and I was studying for my MBA at the time. [01:16] SPEAKER_01: And I really wanted something that really represented Calgary and not just, you know, an [01:22] SPEAKER_01: I-Hart Calgary shirt or shirt with a character on it, something that I thought really represented [01:27] SPEAKER_01: me and the people that made up this great city. [01:30] SPEAKER_01: So I kind of just did what every other Indian millennial does and I do a search how to [01:35] SPEAKER_01: make a t-shirt company. [01:36] SPEAKER_01: And then from there, I watched a YouTube video and within an hour or two, a day or two, [01:42] SPEAKER_01: I had an online t-shirt company. [01:44] SPEAKER_01: I thought this was really great, but I wanted to be something a little bit more. [01:48] SPEAKER_01: You know, there's so many t-shirt companies out there. [01:50] SPEAKER_01: There's so many brands that kind of just take city pride or regional pride and turn it [01:55] SPEAKER_01: into a brand. [01:56] SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to just be cash-in and cash-in on this whole hashtag while I see things. [02:01] SPEAKER_01: I wanted it to be something that really gave back and had a positive impact on the community. [02:06] SPEAKER_01: And ultimately, I wanted a way to take another great Calgary instead of people that were [02:10] SPEAKER_01: doing their part to make positive impact on this community. [02:13] SPEAKER_01: So it kind of developed in a few different ways. [02:16] SPEAKER_01: I mean, the first thing that was really baked in was donating 10% of profits back to [02:20] SPEAKER_01: the local charities that are customers who are choose. [02:22] SPEAKER_01: That was a first and foremost. [02:23] SPEAKER_01: And that was great. [02:24] SPEAKER_01: I mean, we donated a couple hundred bucks here, a couple of bucks there and get customer [02:29] SPEAKER_01: feedback and that was great. [02:30] SPEAKER_01: But you quickly realize that donating money is not the only way you can give back in [02:34] SPEAKER_01: both communities. [02:34] SPEAKER_01: So you started to develop pillars of community and how in different ways that we can go [02:39] SPEAKER_01: community. [02:39] SPEAKER_01: So now we have five pillars of community. [02:41] SPEAKER_01: One of them is of course representing where you come from, being proud of the fact [02:44] SPEAKER_01: that you're from Calgary or we also have a Canada line representing Canada as a whole. [02:49] SPEAKER_01: The second is by donating a quarter of the local profits back to local charities. [02:54] SPEAKER_01: And then our third is by sharing stories from those in the community that are creating [02:57] SPEAKER_01: a positive impact on the new musicians, nonprofits, artists, other local businesses that are doing [03:04] SPEAKER_01: powerful community building. [03:06] SPEAKER_01: The fourth is by collaborating with those and actually finding organizations that share [03:10] SPEAKER_01: values and find ways to work together to get back. [03:15] SPEAKER_01: And our fifth and final pillar of community building is by always supporting teaming, [03:20] SPEAKER_01: factoring, and an effort to support diverse community from them. [03:23] SPEAKER_01: So there's just kind of a few ways that over time our community building efforts grew [03:27] SPEAKER_01: and evolved to what we say. [03:29] SPEAKER_01: I'm sure we'll probably add a few more pillars of community along the way. [03:34] SPEAKER_01: But yeah, we've been going strong about four and a half years now. [03:38] SPEAKER_01: I've logged every every minute of it. [03:40] SPEAKER_00: I'm interested to know because that is such a revoked, overbust in a different business model. [03:46] SPEAKER_00: But what were you doing before you started local laundry? [03:49] SPEAKER_00: Have you always been an entrepreneurist that always been in your blood? [03:53] SPEAKER_01: It's definitely been in the blood. [03:54] SPEAKER_01: My parents moved to Canada from Ireland in the 70s and they opened a pub about 22 years ago here in Calgary. [04:02] SPEAKER_01: One of the first Irish pubs here in Calgary. [04:05] SPEAKER_01: One of the only Irish owned pubs in Calgary. [04:09] SPEAKER_01: So as always, kind of doing my blood. [04:10] SPEAKER_01: To be honest, I never thought I was quite smart enough to be a business owner. [04:13] SPEAKER_01: I think I'd be really smart, know everything, know everything about marketing, finance, business, [04:18] SPEAKER_01: firmness, taxes. [04:20] SPEAKER_01: And I was always really scared to start a business because I never thought I knew enough [04:22] SPEAKER_01: and knew it was quite smart enough. [04:24] SPEAKER_01: So I did what every other animal else does in the city. [04:28] SPEAKER_01: I thought I'd chase the money, go into oil and gas and... [04:31] SPEAKER_01: Well, we know where. [04:32] SPEAKER_00: We would know how that's turned out, right? [04:34] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we know where that leads us. [04:36] SPEAKER_01: So I was one of the first... [04:37] SPEAKER_01: First of my friend group to get laid off. [04:39] SPEAKER_01: I worked for a company for two years, got laid off and I was like, [04:42] SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay, well, I don't think oil and gas is the answer. [04:45] SPEAKER_01: So I decided to move with my wife to Sweden, to study, to upgrade, you know, get my MBA. [04:50] SPEAKER_01: And then is there that I really took a hard look at myself and said, [04:53] SPEAKER_01: What is it that I want to do that will make me happy? [04:57] SPEAKER_01: And I realized that it was a small business. [05:00] SPEAKER_01: So idea of a small business day. [05:01] SPEAKER_01: My parents had done it. [05:02] SPEAKER_01: They built life for themselves. [05:03] SPEAKER_01: But they had always kind of been able to find a way to leave that's doing good [05:08] SPEAKER_01: while creating and growing a business. [05:11] SPEAKER_01: If you walk into the pub and get in time, they probably have... [05:14] SPEAKER_01: They're able to attend the 12 different nationalities. [05:16] SPEAKER_01: They're big supporters of newcomers to Canadians. [05:19] SPEAKER_01: Newcomers to Canada, since they were in New Canadians themselves. [05:22] SPEAKER_01: They really helped get people established here, bring people over, [05:25] SPEAKER_01: bring their families over and that kind of thing. [05:27] SPEAKER_01: And so they're able to use this business as a way to kind of do good. [05:30] SPEAKER_01: And so I really wanted to do something similar. [05:33] SPEAKER_01: So I took a deep hard look and said, You know what? [05:34] SPEAKER_01: I really want to do this. [05:36] SPEAKER_01: I really want to be an entrepreneur, but I want to do something that can give back [05:40] SPEAKER_01: and do some good at the same time. [05:43] SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I love about local laundry is you really are shining the spotlight on Calgary. [05:48] SPEAKER_00: And as we know, it's been a rest few years here in the city. [05:53] SPEAKER_00: So can you share with our listeners who really are from around the world, [05:57] SPEAKER_00: like in your opinion, even in the hard times, what are some of the benefits of doing business in Calgary? [06:04] SPEAKER_01: Oh, man, I think Calgary is the greatest place in the world. [06:07] SPEAKER_01: I really do. [06:08] SPEAKER_01: My wife, she's from Ontario, and when we got married, I said, [06:11] SPEAKER_01: if we're going to get married, we're not going to live anywhere else in Calgary, [06:14] SPEAKER_01: half of the Calgary. [06:15] SPEAKER_01: Thankfully, she agreed to it. [06:17] SPEAKER_01: Now she's going to come love it. [06:19] SPEAKER_01: The interesting thing about Calgary, I find it, [06:21] SPEAKER_01: that there's Mike Morrison, that kind of explains to me, [06:24] SPEAKER_01: Mike Morrison is a great local influencer in the area. [06:26] SPEAKER_00: Yes, we've had him on the show. [06:28] SPEAKER_01: He is phenomenal. [06:29] SPEAKER_01: And he said something to me, you know, he's from Audi, [06:31] SPEAKER_01: so he said, the thing about Calgary is, no one is from here. [06:34] SPEAKER_01: No one's from here. [06:35] SPEAKER_01: Everyone's from somewhere else. [06:37] SPEAKER_01: And at first, I was like, oh, okay, what was that happened to you? [06:40] SPEAKER_01: He's like, if you go to places like Troll or Vancouver, [06:43] SPEAKER_01: where they've families have been there for generations. [06:46] SPEAKER_01: They have their friends, circle of friends, [06:47] SPEAKER_01: they have their cleaks, they have their niches. [06:50] SPEAKER_01: No one really wants to talk to anyone or meet anyone new or in Calgary [06:53] SPEAKER_01: because everyone is from somewhere else. [06:55] SPEAKER_01: Everyone knows what it feels like to be that new kid at school, [06:59] SPEAKER_01: to be the new person in the office, [07:01] SPEAKER_01: to not know very many people, to not know what's going on. [07:03] SPEAKER_01: So everyone is super friendly. [07:05] SPEAKER_01: Everyone, I find it just really wants to help each other out. [07:08] SPEAKER_01: And we see that no more than in the entrepreneurial scene. [07:12] SPEAKER_01: That was one of my favorite things I'll start the business here was, [07:15] SPEAKER_01: it's also had this community of like-minded individuals [07:18] SPEAKER_01: that wanted to build something, wanted to build something wanted, [07:20] SPEAKER_01: to use it as a way to get back. [07:22] SPEAKER_01: And then everyone was so eager and willing to help each other. [07:25] SPEAKER_01: Whether you're a brewery, even clothes, or a big jolato, [07:30] SPEAKER_01: everyone just wants to see everyone here succeed. [07:33] SPEAKER_01: And I think that's very different from the places [07:36] SPEAKER_01: like Toronto, Vancouver, where it's a little bit more putthroat, [07:39] SPEAKER_01: everyone's kind of stepping over each other [07:41] SPEAKER_01: to get where they need to go where it's here. [07:43] SPEAKER_01: It's like, we all want the same thing. [07:46] SPEAKER_01: We all need to get to the same place, [07:48] SPEAKER_01: why can't we help each other grow and get there together? [07:51] SPEAKER_01: Which I think is absolutely phenomenal. [07:54] SPEAKER_01: And of course, you know, all the things that have been happening over the last few years, [07:57] SPEAKER_01: Caryans just had this gritty misfits. [07:59] SPEAKER_01: It's just, you know, we're not going to stand around and complain for very long. [08:04] SPEAKER_01: We're going to get, we're going to put our heads down, [08:06] SPEAKER_01: we're going to get to work, we're going to figure it out. [08:08] SPEAKER_01: We're going to make it happen. [08:09] SPEAKER_01: We're going to find a solution, slip out, we're going to get out there, [08:12] SPEAKER_01: get after it, and make it happen. [08:14] SPEAKER_01: Which is a lot of work. [08:16] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's great. [08:18] SPEAKER_00: But when you flip it around and we can't deny that it has been tough here too economically. [08:22] SPEAKER_00: So what if you bumped into in terms of challenges for doing, you know, [08:27] SPEAKER_00: starting a business here? [08:29] SPEAKER_01: Well, I think as a small business, your costs are always higher. [08:32] SPEAKER_01: You are generally building and promoting a premium product that comes out of premium price. [08:40] SPEAKER_01: You know, whether you are making pork genetic from Buccia, [08:44] SPEAKER_01: or you can have beer or kei, or clothing. [08:47] SPEAKER_01: You know, you don't have the economy as a scale. [08:48] SPEAKER_01: And you are not cutting corners or doing things the right way and slowly. [08:55] SPEAKER_01: And that comes out of premium. [08:57] SPEAKER_01: Most of these small businesses that I'm, that were like ourselves, [09:01] SPEAKER_01: and other people that are here, are here, and buildings of their premium product, [09:04] SPEAKER_01: they sell something at a premium price. [09:06] SPEAKER_01: So for us, for example, we are making kei made garments. [09:10] SPEAKER_01: And our garlars are very expensive. [09:12] SPEAKER_01: But they're expensive for a reason. [09:14] SPEAKER_01: Right? They're expensive because we ensure that our manufacturer is paying their workers Canadian, [09:20] SPEAKER_01: living wage with benefits. [09:22] SPEAKER_01: They're green to Canadian labor, Canadian labor environmental laws instead. [09:28] SPEAKER_01: It's, that's very expensive when larger companies can just produce overseas for a fraction of the labor cost. [09:34] SPEAKER_01: Because who knows how those workers are getting treated? [09:37] SPEAKER_01: And they're not contributing to a diverse community. [09:40] SPEAKER_01: And so that becomes difficult when you're trying to sell a product that's $90 a sweater to a cowgarean. [09:46] SPEAKER_01: It's on a bit of a hard times. [09:48] SPEAKER_01: And they can go down a Walmart and get a sweater for $20 to $30 or even less. [09:52] SPEAKER_01: So we're really trying to pull up the fact that you know what? [09:55] SPEAKER_01: Cowgareans, you know, while we're not, in the best of times, [09:58] SPEAKER_01: we can't afford not to buy good clothes. [10:00] SPEAKER_01: We can't afford not to buy cheap products. [10:04] SPEAKER_01: Because ultimately, small business owners of down-to-look-udson products [10:08] SPEAKER_01: are going to better for you than in the last long time. [10:11] SPEAKER_01: And that's, I think, the biggest challenge is fighting that sort of notion of why should garment cost this much money. [10:19] SPEAKER_01: And fighting that habit that we've gotten into that we want a t-shirt for the cheapest amount of money possibly. [10:28] SPEAKER_00: Right, right. [10:30] SPEAKER_00: Well, it's very obvious you're a huge supporter of the city. [10:34] SPEAKER_00: And I'm wondering if you can share with our listeners. [10:37] SPEAKER_00: Where do you go locally if you want to just get inspired? [10:42] SPEAKER_00: You're in a creative business. [10:44] SPEAKER_00: So where do you go? [10:46] SPEAKER_00: Do you have a spot or two that's a favorite to just kind of rejuvenate and get refocused? [10:52] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely. There's so many great places. [10:56] SPEAKER_01: What I typically do, because I work from home to continue my family home office, [10:59] SPEAKER_01: the local order head, global learning headquarters, and my basement gear. [11:03] SPEAKER_01: I spend every Wednesday as my meeting day. [11:06] SPEAKER_01: And so if someone would meet me, I'd say, you know, come meet me. [11:10] SPEAKER_01: I'm going to be a calorie hair-y dresser in reds either or brand new coffee cafe that I just opened up a June. [11:18] SPEAKER_01: And it's in the Old Simmons building. [11:20] SPEAKER_01: And it's all its closed brick. [11:21] SPEAKER_01: They've built tables floor all by hand from old wood that they found there. [11:26] SPEAKER_01: And it's a really inspiring place to see. [11:28] SPEAKER_01: We're quite close to two owners and to see those two guys who went through all sorts of struggles to get that cafe in place in that building. [11:36] SPEAKER_01: That's always inspiring to me. [11:38] SPEAKER_01: And similarly, when I look at other great brands like Fiasco, Gerlato, James Boacher, the CEO there's been a big mentor of us. [11:48] SPEAKER_01: Anytime we need anything, advice, tips, shoulder crown, he's there for us. [11:52] SPEAKER_01: He's got 10,000 things to do. [11:54] SPEAKER_01: He always takes the time to spend with us. [11:58] SPEAKER_01: And then for inspiration, if you're feeling really out of shape or need to get a swim, we always look to our friends over at a wild west cycle. [12:05] SPEAKER_01: I mean, we were giving Tuesday on Tuesday and we went and walked here with their crew down at the Calgary Food Bank. [12:12] SPEAKER_01: And I was chatting away with them. [12:13] SPEAKER_01: And then I've asked, how much money have you guys raised for Cheri so far? [12:17] SPEAKER_01: They've raised over $700,000 for Cheri. [12:20] SPEAKER_01: We're trying to get to a million. [12:22] SPEAKER_01: We're about $40,000, $50,000. [12:25] SPEAKER_01: They've raised over $700,000. [12:28] SPEAKER_01: You want to talk about the community. [12:30] SPEAKER_01: They've figured out how to build community together. [12:32] SPEAKER_01: So anytime we feel low or bad about ourselves, and that happens a lot. [12:38] SPEAKER_01: As an entrepreneur, I think most people know it. [12:40] SPEAKER_01: It's a roller coaster ride. [12:41] SPEAKER_01: One day you can be a smart person in the world. [12:44] SPEAKER_01: Nothing can touch in the next day. [12:46] SPEAKER_01: It's hard to be a state. [12:47] SPEAKER_01: It's not about doing it. [12:50] SPEAKER_01: And we all kind of get like that, but to have people to have that network, [12:55] SPEAKER_01: the support group, the support system, the people like that and inspiration. [12:59] SPEAKER_01: Just literally around the corner, everywhere you look in this city, [13:04] SPEAKER_01: it's so, it's so vaguerine. [13:06] SPEAKER_01: It's so thankful to be a part of it. [13:08] SPEAKER_00: Awesome. [13:09] SPEAKER_00: So where do you want to go with local laundry next? [13:12] SPEAKER_00: Like what's your vision for the future here? [13:15] SPEAKER_01: How long is this podcast? [13:17] SPEAKER_01: I can talk about this all the day long. [13:19] SPEAKER_01: This is a great question. [13:22] SPEAKER_01: You know, it's funny because we started local laundry. [13:24] SPEAKER_01: And like I said, just two of these people so I tried to make a tissue. [13:27] SPEAKER_01: I didn't know anything about e-commerce, wholesale, retail. [13:30] SPEAKER_01: Certainly did not know anything about fashion. [13:32] SPEAKER_01: Still no very little about fashion. [13:33] SPEAKER_01: But we came with the notion that we want to build community together. [13:37] SPEAKER_01: We want clothing to be that beautiful. [13:39] SPEAKER_01: It's specifically candy made clothing. [13:40] SPEAKER_01: We've been candy made for about a year and a half now. [13:43] SPEAKER_01: We've been getting those two years and just learning so much about the garment industry. [13:47] SPEAKER_01: How clothing is actually made. [13:49] SPEAKER_01: How people buy what candy made clothing actually means. [13:53] SPEAKER_01: And the effect that can have on people, you know, not just the people that are buying it, [13:57] SPEAKER_01: but the people that are making it, the people that are involved. [13:59] SPEAKER_01: So we want to, we really want to be, like I said, an introduction. [14:03] SPEAKER_01: We want to be heralds of the importance of candy made clothing. [14:07] SPEAKER_01: Candy made factoring as a whole. [14:09] SPEAKER_01: So what we want to do is we want to make garments of purpose. [14:12] SPEAKER_01: We want to make clothing that actually matter. [14:15] SPEAKER_01: That people just don't like, oh, here's a cool design. [14:17] SPEAKER_01: Or if there's a black front idea, let's pick it up and, you know, for real cheap. [14:23] SPEAKER_01: We want to make clothing that makes people stop and think, you know, for a good example of that, [14:29] SPEAKER_01: is our giving garments. [14:30] SPEAKER_01: So at any given time, any shelter in Canada, the five most giving, [14:33] SPEAKER_01: the five most in-demand items for donations are two socks, mittens, towels, and other. [14:39] SPEAKER_01: And this is something that you can never have enough donations to collect for always a need of. [14:43] SPEAKER_01: And so we decided that we wanted to help introduce the giving garments, [14:47] SPEAKER_01: which is for our two, and the two that we sell, we donate once to a homeless organization, [14:52] SPEAKER_01: we pair socks that we sell, we donate once the organization that we tell it up, [14:55] SPEAKER_01: we sell it during one of the service. [14:57] SPEAKER_01: So we want to get to the point where we're reintroduced, underwear into that collection, [15:01] SPEAKER_01: and we want to get to the point where we're introduced, mittens into that collection. [15:04] SPEAKER_01: And we want to talk about, you know, the way that clothing used to be. [15:08] SPEAKER_01: My wife goes home to Ontario for a favorite thing to wear, [15:12] SPEAKER_01: is for dads old roots, I mean, from the 70s. [15:15] SPEAKER_01: And that thing is so soft, it's got no holes in it, [15:18] SPEAKER_01: because roots used to make all our stuff in Canada, [15:20] SPEAKER_01: used to make quality clothing here in this country. [15:23] SPEAKER_01: This is what offshore overseas, and their stuff is in the same quality. [15:28] SPEAKER_01: But my wife's favorite sweater is this 50-year-old hoodie. [15:32] SPEAKER_01: And we want to make clothing that comes with a generational guarantee, [15:36] SPEAKER_01: that you will be giving this to your children, and to your children's children, [15:41] SPEAKER_01: guarantee you want to be a heralding the fact that, you know, [15:44] SPEAKER_01: we should be buying less and buying better. [15:47] SPEAKER_01: And we should be shrinking our closets, we should be investing in our wardrokes, [15:52] SPEAKER_01: and we should be buying clothing that's going to last this call that we're going to give to our children. [15:58] SPEAKER_01: So that's just some of the stuff that we're working on. [16:02] SPEAKER_01: Working with more sustainable materials, we just introduced our bamboo collection, [16:06] SPEAKER_01: bamboo is super sustainable, it uses, you know, [16:10] SPEAKER_01: a tenth of the water that cotton does, it grows like a weed, [16:14] SPEAKER_01: it's super soft, it's functional, naturally, and time-on-crow-wheel, [16:18] SPEAKER_01: you know, a lot more sustainable than recycled materials. [16:21] SPEAKER_01: And so we want to work with stuff like that. [16:23] SPEAKER_01: Our dream would be one day that we can work with local hemp mills, [16:28] SPEAKER_01: you know, clothing used to be made out of hemp, [16:30] SPEAKER_01: a hundred years ago, hemp is one of the most durable materials known to man, [16:35] SPEAKER_01: because cotton can grow here and there's some free time work that hemp mills [16:38] SPEAKER_01: actually grows, hemp, hemp, hemp, and make a sweater out of that. [16:42] SPEAKER_01: So we have a sweater that was grown here and made here, [16:44] SPEAKER_01: and it lasted a hundred years, like that is our dream. [16:47] SPEAKER_01: So I could go on for days and days, but I just get so excited that we made the switch came, [16:53] SPEAKER_01: maybe see the importance of it, and how we get to share this with people, [16:58] SPEAKER_01: we get to tell people, you know, and I just hope that people are excited as I am, you know. [17:02] SPEAKER_01: And I still don't see myself as a fashion designer, I don't see myself in the fashion world. [17:07] SPEAKER_01: You know, we really see ourselves as community builders, [17:10] SPEAKER_01: and we just think that there's such big opportunity with clothing and shirts [17:14] SPEAKER_01: to get people excited about it, you know. [17:17] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. [17:20] SPEAKER_00: Well, let's talk a little bit more personally for a few minutes. [17:24] Speaker UNKNOWN: [17:24] SPEAKER_00: So can you share with me what is the greatest piece of advice that you've been given, [17:28] SPEAKER_00: or one that you've really used as a touch point as you've built your business? [17:33] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think, well, one of the greatest pieces of advice that I've been given [17:39] SPEAKER_01: was, you know, don't ever forget where you came from. [17:42] SPEAKER_01: Don't ever, and this is one of the James from Fiasco really, really creatures [17:46] SPEAKER_01: and it really hits home. Don't ever forget where you came from. [17:48] SPEAKER_01: Don't forget the people that put to where you are. [17:50] SPEAKER_01: You know, I can talk to all day about how I'm the smartest person in the world, [17:55] SPEAKER_01: and I figured out this why I asked you this on. [17:56] SPEAKER_01: But that doesn't mean anything if it wasn't for the people that, you know, [18:01] SPEAKER_01: really supported us in the get go. [18:03] SPEAKER_01: Believe it or not, Lou the Lemon was a big, big part of our success in the get go. [18:07] SPEAKER_01: It was, you know, a couple of lemon stores that we started to buy, [18:11] SPEAKER_01: our YYC stuff from the very get go, wearing it at their stores, [18:14] SPEAKER_01: and they kind of really helped legitimize us. [18:17] SPEAKER_01: And it was the friends that bought right out of the gate, you know, [18:21] SPEAKER_01: the retailers that took a chance on us, that saw something else that made me wait [18:26] SPEAKER_01: and see ourselves. [18:27] SPEAKER_01: So I think it's never forget where you come from. [18:30] SPEAKER_01: Another great piece of advice that I learned, I read from a book, [18:35] SPEAKER_01: is that, you know, without relationships, you don't have a business relationship, [18:38] SPEAKER_01: you're absolutely the key to something that does and I really, really take to heart. [18:43] SPEAKER_01: That's the night, my business partner does some crazy, you know, [18:45] SPEAKER_01: we kind of took a day when they were like, what are we good at? [18:48] SPEAKER_01: What are we good? We're not accountants. [18:49] SPEAKER_01: When that designer is not clothing, you know, fashionist is what are we good at? [18:52] SPEAKER_01: You know, what we're good at is really fostering relationships. [18:57] SPEAKER_01: Everyone from our lawyers, our manufacturer, to our retailers, to our customers, [19:02] SPEAKER_01: our team, we really genuinely care about everyone that interacts with us and the brand. [19:07] SPEAKER_01: You know, a great example of that is our manufacturer, you know, the clothing, [19:11] SPEAKER_01: you know, printing and the manufacturer is a ruthless game, it's a tough game. [19:15] SPEAKER_01: And we're by far one of our supplier's smallest clients. [19:18] SPEAKER_01: They say, were they the only client that says, thank you. [19:23] SPEAKER_01: Which is crazy because they have clients that are so demanding that they spend so much money, [19:30] SPEAKER_01: that that requires so much. [19:32] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, as little things as they say, thank you. [19:36] SPEAKER_01: And that's shocked us because we say thank you like 10,000 times a day to everyone involved. [19:41] SPEAKER_01: But the only ones that remember birthdays and Christmas gifts and that kind of thing. [19:46] SPEAKER_01: And I just think without relationships, you don't have a business. [19:49] SPEAKER_01: Because that's all business is. [19:52] SPEAKER_01: It's just an entity that's built on relationships. [19:55] SPEAKER_01: And people that, you know, I think sometimes people can take customers for granted. [19:59] SPEAKER_01: You know, they can take your business relationships, you know, you never ever ever take your relationship for granted. [20:05] SPEAKER_01: Always do your best to nurture the foster them. [20:07] SPEAKER_01: And I even see it, you know, with my business relationship, it doesn't. [20:11] SPEAKER_01: And sometimes I just check in with this and how you do it and how you feel. [20:14] SPEAKER_01: You know, are you hungry? [20:16] SPEAKER_01: Because Dustin eats all the time. [20:17] SPEAKER_01: So you just gotta always make sure Dustin's fed. [20:19] SPEAKER_01: You gotta foster that relationship. [20:20] SPEAKER_01: You never take anything from him. [20:22] SPEAKER_01: And then, in particular with your family, my wife is one of the biggest supporters of World Quality. [20:25] SPEAKER_01: There is, she's a big part of why I'm able to do this. [20:29] SPEAKER_01: And I have to make sure that I'm spending enough time with her and, you know, taking the her needs and that kind of thing. [20:33] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, the thing about the business is you can love a business all day long. [20:39] SPEAKER_01: The business itself is never going to love you back. [20:42] SPEAKER_01: You know, a business will never, it's not cable love in your back. [20:45] SPEAKER_01: The only people that are capable of loving you back is the people that the business touches. [20:50] SPEAKER_01: So I'm very, very, very big relationship. [20:52] SPEAKER_01: And the third and final piece of advice, especially I get asked all the time about entrepreneurs that want to start a business. [20:57] SPEAKER_01: Let's get a vice-distorted business. [20:59] SPEAKER_01: I just shut up and do it. [21:01] SPEAKER_01: Shut up and start a business. [21:03] SPEAKER_01: Start a podcast. Start paying them. Start just start. [21:07] SPEAKER_01: I think so many people get caught up in, I don't know if my idea is good. [21:10] SPEAKER_01: I'm not smart enough. [21:11] SPEAKER_01: I gotta come on business plan, a marketing plan. [21:13] SPEAKER_01: It's by the time I get so many people that come out with a perfect plan. [21:17] SPEAKER_01: And then it's three years later and they still haven't started because they're still planning. [21:21] SPEAKER_01: You know, I started local laundry with the Google search on YouTube video. [21:24] SPEAKER_01: Two days later, I had a website. [21:26] SPEAKER_01: And I thought that I would, I initially initially started, I wanted to do community t-shirts. [21:32] SPEAKER_01: I didn't even think about the Y-L-C and Y-L-C was just kind of an afterthought. [21:35] SPEAKER_01: And if I had a plan by business around making community t-shirts, I still be sitting on hundreds of community t-shirts. [21:40] SPEAKER_01: I couldn't give away. [21:42] SPEAKER_01: But I started and I adapted and I learned, I made a ton of mistakes. [21:47] SPEAKER_01: We still make mistakes. [21:49] SPEAKER_01: And that's the other thing is that people always look touch-binners and think they're all so smart and everything. [21:54] SPEAKER_01: The reality is we don't have a clue what we're doing. [21:59] SPEAKER_01: And then the thing that brings me companies, no one knows what they're doing. [22:04] SPEAKER_01: We're all just making it up. [22:06] SPEAKER_01: We're all just forgetting the wall and seeing mistakes. [22:08] SPEAKER_01: I think I take a lot of comfort in that fact that I'm going to get up every day. [22:12] SPEAKER_01: I'm going to give my darkness and probably going to fall over and hit 10,000 times. [22:16] SPEAKER_01: But that's part of the fun, this part of the journey and eventually I'm going to get up and go one step further than where I started. [22:23] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you just have to have the courage to start sometimes. [22:26] SPEAKER_00: Absolutely. [22:27] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, stop talking about it. Just start. [22:30] SPEAKER_00: Well, are you reading any books that you would recommend to our listeners? [22:34] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I got loads of books. [22:36] SPEAKER_01: I find reading books really difficult. [22:40] SPEAKER_01: I love audiobooks. I love driving and listening to books. [22:43] SPEAKER_01: So one, two books I kind of got on the go right now. [22:46] SPEAKER_01: One book that I'm reading is called Extreme Ownership by Jocco. [22:52] SPEAKER_01: He's like this crazy ex-maybe-seal guy. [22:56] SPEAKER_01: And he just says, you know what? [22:58] SPEAKER_01: Everything that goes wrong in your life or your business, [23:02] SPEAKER_01: you have to own up and completely take ownership of it. [23:06] SPEAKER_01: If you have a team member that works under you and they're not doing their job, [23:10] SPEAKER_01: stop trying to put the blame on them. [23:12] SPEAKER_01: Maybe you should start putting the blame on you and what can you do to make sure they're doing their job better? [23:17] SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of mentality if that's what I take. [23:19] SPEAKER_01: You know, we're never going to point fingers to say, this is someone else's fault. [23:23] SPEAKER_01: We always look at ourselves first and say, you know, how could we have a fault? [23:27] SPEAKER_01: What could we have done better in a take over? [23:29] SPEAKER_01: And then the second book that I'm reading is called Scaling Up, [23:34] SPEAKER_01: which is based on the Rockefeller habits, which is a really good book [23:39] SPEAKER_01: that I focus on three main four main pillars. [23:42] SPEAKER_01: People's strategy, the execution, and cash. [23:45] SPEAKER_01: And that's been really, really helpful. [23:46] SPEAKER_01: Particularly the cash part, Dustin, he works for the bank. [23:49] SPEAKER_01: I'm not very much a numbers guy, but just the idea of how important cash is. [23:54] SPEAKER_01: The business is the life line. [23:55] SPEAKER_01: And most entrepreneurs are terrified of it. [23:58] SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not the part that they're passionate about. [24:01] SPEAKER_01: It's not the sexy part of the business. [24:03] SPEAKER_01: And most people would rather just dig their head into the creative part [24:07] SPEAKER_01: than never ever look at the bank account. [24:09] SPEAKER_01: It's so important. [24:10] SPEAKER_01: So Dustin, I really, really, every day we look at cash. [24:14] SPEAKER_01: Every day we do cash flow analysis. [24:16] SPEAKER_01: And really make that the life part of our business. [24:20] SPEAKER_01: And that's what we want to do. [24:21] SPEAKER_01: We want to be a profitable business wife from the very day. [24:24] SPEAKER_00: And do you have any favorite podcasts? [24:26] SPEAKER_00: Yes. [24:26] SPEAKER_00: You mentioned you like driving, you know, when you're driving around, [24:29] SPEAKER_00: you like to listen to books or? [24:31] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. [24:31] SPEAKER_01: I listen to quite for the few podcasts. [24:35] SPEAKER_01: I'm like every other, you know, every other male in their late 20s, [24:39] SPEAKER_01: and there is a love Joe Rogan, and he's the king of podcasts. [24:42] SPEAKER_01: There's such interesting people on his show. [24:46] SPEAKER_01: But when I listen to you, oh, Masters of Scale by Reed Hoffman, [24:50] SPEAKER_01: that's a great one. [24:52] SPEAKER_01: You know, to have how to learn how to scale up. [24:54] SPEAKER_01: And then of course, you know, how I built this by MPR. [24:58] SPEAKER_01: If you ever just like some of the biggest brands in the world, you know, [25:01] SPEAKER_01: it's a company. [25:02] SPEAKER_01: In fact, a lot of them never knew how they, you know, how they were doing [25:07] SPEAKER_01: in that company. [25:08] SPEAKER_01: So those are those are few of my favorite ones. [25:10] SPEAKER_01: I tried to stay away from podcasts because it's so addicted to them. [25:13] SPEAKER_01: I get so into them. [25:14] SPEAKER_01: So I want to be reading and listening more. [25:18] SPEAKER_01: One thing that I'm really trying to do right now is I'm a lover of languages. [25:22] SPEAKER_01: So any chance I get a most familiar language. [25:27] SPEAKER_01: I went to Turkey last year. [25:29] SPEAKER_01: I spent a couple months on Turkey. [25:31] SPEAKER_01: Now I'm revisiting my Swedish. [25:34] SPEAKER_01: So instead of like listening to books of podcasts and I'm trying to spend as much time learning languages [25:39] SPEAKER_01: as I just, I just, I just addicted to languages. [25:42] SPEAKER_01: Because it allows me to get connected with more and more of people. [25:46] SPEAKER_01: People are my real addict. [25:48] SPEAKER_01: And I just want to meet so many people. [25:49] SPEAKER_01: I want to connect with people on a few other stories. [25:51] SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, do that through language. [25:53] SPEAKER_01: And so that's what I spend most of my, my podcast is in time too. [25:58] SPEAKER_01: I know. [25:59] SPEAKER_00: Where's your favorite spot in the world in terms of outside of Calgary, in terms of travel or where you'd like to go? [26:07] SPEAKER_01: You know, it's going to maybe settle, please. [26:08] SPEAKER_01: I've been very fortunate enough to travel. [26:10] SPEAKER_01: A lot of different places in the world. [26:12] SPEAKER_01: I like two places. [26:14] SPEAKER_01: You probably might be my favorite. [26:15] SPEAKER_01: One is, you know, back home in Ireland. [26:17] SPEAKER_01: Where my parents are from just being home, being around my family. [26:21] SPEAKER_01: They'll be around the people there. [26:24] SPEAKER_01: The way life kind of is kind of slow there. [26:26] SPEAKER_01: You kind of take the time to relax the green, the ocean. [26:30] SPEAKER_01: I can love you back home, but then the second is, you know, I don't think Calgary, I think you know, [26:35] SPEAKER_01: absolutely so slow just out of the mountains that are back here. [26:38] SPEAKER_01: But I'm not even that big of a hiker. [26:40] SPEAKER_01: I don't ski. [26:41] SPEAKER_01: I just love being in the mountains. [26:42] SPEAKER_01: I like driving through the mountains. [26:43] SPEAKER_01: You know, my wife and I love to stay out. [26:45] SPEAKER_01: I can go and tell her to just go on for a short little hike and just kind of just being in awe. [26:51] SPEAKER_01: The presence of these glorious mountains. [26:53] SPEAKER_01: I think if you're ever having a bad day or you're going through some must-hushes, [26:57] SPEAKER_01: drive up the mountains and go for a little walk. [26:58] SPEAKER_01: It is so feeling and it's just so lovely. [27:01] SPEAKER_01: And we're so lucky to be able to live 45 minutes an hour away from the most beautiful places in the world. [27:08] SPEAKER_01: One place my wife and I really want to go to Zulu. [27:11] SPEAKER_01: That's what it's going to be, just because it's so different. [27:13] SPEAKER_01: It's beautiful and the food. [27:16] SPEAKER_01: But I have to learn Japanese first. [27:18] SPEAKER_01: I would spend probably six months learning Japanese so I can learn how to speak to people. [27:24] SPEAKER_00: That's awesome. [27:26] SPEAKER_00: Do you have any non-negotiable routines or ways that you either prefer to start or end your day? [27:33] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I was going to be the stuff when you mentioned the book. [27:36] SPEAKER_01: Another book I've been reading is Aubrey Marcus's book on your day. [27:40] SPEAKER_01: And I love it. [27:42] SPEAKER_01: I love it. [27:43] SPEAKER_01: And I'm a big, big person on how to start an end of the day. [27:46] SPEAKER_01: One rule that I have with my wife is that there's no phones in bed, [27:51] SPEAKER_01: laptops in bed, no screens in bed. [27:53] SPEAKER_01: I'm really big on, you know, dimming the lights down, getting myself ready for bed and putting the phone outside the room or far out of the room. [28:01] SPEAKER_01: So what I like to do then is how we wake up is we have this like Phil too light that is our alarm. [28:07] SPEAKER_01: That brightens the whole room and it feels like natural sunrise. [28:10] SPEAKER_01: There's like four alarms going off everywhere and there are like places and various parts around the room. [28:16] SPEAKER_01: So I have to let get up, walk around, and turn them all off. [28:19] SPEAKER_01: And then from there, the night before I make my wife my lemon water. [28:24] SPEAKER_01: It's the lemon. [28:25] SPEAKER_01: And so throw that idea. [28:27] SPEAKER_01: That helps wake you up. [28:29] SPEAKER_01: Shower. [28:30] SPEAKER_01: And then I would be feeling a stretching. [28:32] SPEAKER_01: I'm like the most, I'm the biggest, most inflexible guy I ever meet. [28:36] SPEAKER_01: Far from day into year delegated or coordinated. [28:42] SPEAKER_01: But I love trying to teach toes every day. [28:44] SPEAKER_01: I also have another goal that one day I'd love to be able to do the splits that caught him a grader. [28:50] SPEAKER_01: So I always try to stretch my eyes as far as I can. [28:53] SPEAKER_01: I'll be able to get it at. [28:55] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. [28:56] SPEAKER_01: And then I try to do a couple of pushups every day and I can't think. [28:59] SPEAKER_01: But I'm big, big. [29:00] SPEAKER_01: I'm working with your team. [29:02] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no phones in bed. [29:03] SPEAKER_01: No, you know, I took off. [29:05] SPEAKER_01: I deleted all the, as much social media as I could. [29:08] SPEAKER_01: Off my phone, trying to get away from the phone. [29:13] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think I think it just needs a little bit more quiet time. [29:17] SPEAKER_01: And protecting that eight hours of sleep. [29:19] SPEAKER_01: Man, man, that's a big thing. [29:21] SPEAKER_01: I've been focusing on just as much as the night. [29:23] SPEAKER_01: I was protecting that seven, eight hours of sleep. [29:25] SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of people think that, you know, that hustle life, the entrepreneur life. [29:29] SPEAKER_01: And if you've got to be work, work, work, and four in the morning, sending emails and three, four hours of sleep and guilty. [29:35] SPEAKER_01: If you're not up at, you know, the crack of dawn, I kind of think that I'm like, I'm getting my sleep. [29:40] SPEAKER_01: I make a sure I'm getting good. [29:42] SPEAKER_01: I'm doing all the right. [29:43] SPEAKER_00: Awesome. [29:44] SPEAKER_00: Well, and you provide me with the perfect segue for our second last question here. [29:50] SPEAKER_00: And it's one we ask in every podcast across the country because entrepreneurs are often so connected to technology. [29:58] SPEAKER_00: This is a hypothetical question. [30:01] SPEAKER_00: So if you could imagine that you were dropped off on a tropical island and you would not have any connectivity to technology. [30:10] SPEAKER_00: So there's no Wi-Fi or any of those things. [30:13] SPEAKER_00: There is a phone booth on the island. [30:16] SPEAKER_00: So when you're ready to be picked up, we will come and get you. [30:19] SPEAKER_00: You're there alone, but your basic necessities would be met. [30:22] SPEAKER_00: So it's not like you have to live like survivor man or something like that. [30:25] SPEAKER_00: So the question is, how long do you think you would last and what would you do while you're there? [30:32] SPEAKER_01: Well, man, that is a great question. [30:34] SPEAKER_01: That is a very, very good question. [30:35] SPEAKER_01: Well, I think I've probably missed my life. [30:39] SPEAKER_01: So I probably couldn't stay too long. [30:41] SPEAKER_01: I'm very busy without her. [30:44] SPEAKER_01: So I probably would be only able to last for maybe three, maybe five days a week back, if the phone call could go through. [30:52] SPEAKER_01: And what I think I would do there is I'm just a fan of just kind of being in with my own thoughts. [30:58] SPEAKER_01: I probably walked the island being deep thought. [31:02] SPEAKER_01: You know, I tend to have these like what I call shower thoughts where if I don't have any other distraction or mineshower or sometimes I just go sit in the steam room. [31:10] SPEAKER_01: I just have these like wild thoughts because all I think about is local laundry business. [31:14] SPEAKER_01: So I probably just be thinking about life, I would be business better. [31:19] SPEAKER_01: And I'd probably take a stick in the sand and drop all these crazy, de-wacky ideas that you know I present to Dustin my business partner. [31:28] SPEAKER_01: He probably think, you're crazy. [31:31] SPEAKER_01: These are terrible ideas. [31:32] SPEAKER_01: None of these will work. [31:34] SPEAKER_01: Probably try and build something. [31:36] SPEAKER_01: I really like building staff of ground hands and figuring things out. [31:42] SPEAKER_01: So I probably walk, walk, build and think. [31:46] SPEAKER_01: I probably would be able to last more than three days without my wife. [31:49] SPEAKER_01: My wife was there and we could stay there for like two weeks. [31:52] SPEAKER_00: Great answer. [31:54] SPEAKER_00: So is there anything else that you'd like to share with our listeners before we end our chat today? [32:00] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think just the importance of checking your labels. [32:04] SPEAKER_01: You know, understanding where your coding has come from. [32:06] SPEAKER_01: You know, understand where your products come from. [32:08] SPEAKER_01: Take a look around your house, your room, your office. [32:11] SPEAKER_01: And have a good heart, think, you know, what is actually made here? [32:15] SPEAKER_01: And what is actually made overseas? [32:16] SPEAKER_01: And just kind of looking through your buying habits and purchasing habits with through those lenses and knowing that it's up to you. [32:25] SPEAKER_01: It's up to you and me as consumers to really be voting with our wallets about what kind of world we want to support. [32:32] SPEAKER_01: And what kind of economy and products and lifestyle we want to support. [32:36] SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, understand the human element in the cost of a bargain. [32:41] SPEAKER_01: You know, if a Deesher with a ball is $5, what elements in place to put in place to make that Deesher $5? [32:49] SPEAKER_01: You know, how are those look? [32:50] SPEAKER_01: How was the environment true in producing it? [32:53] SPEAKER_01: So I think I just really encourage you. [32:56] SPEAKER_01: Because I'm as much the blame as anyone else in the up to two years ago, I was just looking for the best deal and didn't care where something was made. [33:06] SPEAKER_01: And so I just really, if you're particularly able to do a bit of research and understand who's making your clothes, how they're making the clothes, and how you're supporting or not supporting any system. [33:18] SPEAKER_00: How can our listeners either get in touch with you or find out more about local laundry? [33:25] SPEAKER_00: Can you give us your online details so we can make sure people can find you? [33:30] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely. So people can find us at www.localandry.ca, at local on our Instagram and Twitter and LinkedIn. [33:38] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're 25 stores across Canada. [33:40] SPEAKER_01: Mark's is a great retail partner in Calgary, Hamilton, Victoria below the belts and all the balls and Calgary. [33:46] SPEAKER_01: Some great local independent retails like Mariah Supply, Cohen, Kensington here in Calgary, stealing home. [33:52] SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of places that you can find as opposed to going to be a market collective. [33:58] SPEAKER_01: Next week in December 13th, then again, for that weekend and then again, December 20th for that weekend. [34:04] SPEAKER_01: Anyone has any questions? Feel free to fire us and email Instagram, direct message. Always happy to help. [34:09] SPEAKER_00: Well, I have to tell you, Connie, your enthusiasm for doing business in Calgary is quite inspiring. [34:14] SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure that I've talked to someone who has so much energy about all the benefits of doing business here. [34:22] SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for being a guest today and really enjoy chatting with you. [34:26] SPEAKER_01: Oh, well, thank you. I appreciate the kind words and thank you for wanting to highlight us and supporting us as well. [34:34] SPEAKER_01: We're more than happy to be here. [34:36] SPEAKER_00: Well, truly, keep up the great work. [34:38] SPEAKER_01: We'll do our best. Thank you. [34:40] SPEAKER_01: Okay. [34:41] SPEAKER_00: Hey there, it's Bonnie Elchee. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to Calgary's podcast on the Canada's podcast network. [34:49] SPEAKER_00: We hope you enjoyed the show. Make sure you sign up for our newsletters. [34:53] SPEAKER_00: And if you have a minute, please write a review for us on iTunes. [34:56] SPEAKER_00: You can connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn at Canada's podcast. [35:03] SPEAKER_00: And make sure you check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country. [35:12] Speaker UNKNOWN: And we'll see you next time.
