July 3, 2026 • 33 mins
Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning!
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Sumiyyah Rasheed.
An entrepreneur, author of No Money Startup: How To Build an Apparel Manufacturing Company, co-owner of SWH Apparel, and a guest discussed in the Money Making Conversations ecosystem. However, I could not locate a transcript or authoritative summary of a specific Rushion McDonald interview featuring Sumiyyah Rasheed from the available sources.
Purpose of the Interview
The interview's apparent purpose was to:
- Share Sumiyyah Rasheed's entrepreneurial journey as a founder and manufacturing executive.
- Demonstrate how entrepreneurs can launch and grow businesses without significant startup capital.
- Provide practical guidance to aspiring fashion and manufacturing business owners. [Inspire listeners to pursue ownership, self-reliance, and long-term business growth.
Key Takeaways 1. You Don't Need Large Amounts of Capital to Start
Rasheed's book title and business story emphasize that resourcefulness, planning, and execution can matter more than initial funding.
2. Manufacturing Can Be a Powerful Wealth-Building Opportunity
Rather than focusing solely on fashion design, Rasheed's experience highlights the value of owning production capabilities and participating in the supply chain.
3. Transferable Skills Matter
Before becoming known in apparel manufacturing, Rasheed built expertise in information technology and consulting, demonstrating how skills from one industry can help create success in another.
4. Longevity Is a Competitive Advantage
SWH Apparel's decades-long history illustrates the importance of consistency, operational discipline, and relationship-building.
5. Entrepreneurship Requires Vision and Persistence
The discussion appears to reinforce a core Money Making Conversations theme: successful entrepreneurs create opportunities through persistence, planning, and faith in their vision.
Notable Themes
- Building businesses from limited resources. [
- Black entrepreneurship and economic empowerment.
- Fashion and apparel manufacturing.
- Women's leadership in business.
- Creating sustainable, long-term enterprises.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to my show. I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Well, we encourage people to stop
reading other people's success stories and start planning your own. Now,
you don't want to miss an episode, so please take
a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money
Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
It's free.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
You can follow me on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your podcast. New Money Making
Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you
on alert because my guests provide tips on how you
can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or
advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now, let's
(00:38):
get this podcast started. My guest is a manufacturer and
executive and technology consultant with more than thirty years of
experience in the apparel industry. She is the author of
No Money Startup, How to Build an Apparel Manufacturing Company,
and she is the founder and CEO of Crescent Consulting Group, Inc.
And Swah Apparel, the Atlanta based woman owned apparel manufacturing company.
(01:03):
Please work on the Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Shamiya Samiya Rashi.
How you doing, Samiya, I'm doing well.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:11):
First of all, you said woman owned? Was that important
to say that in your intro?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yes, it is important because in our industry it's male dominated.
In the intimate apparel and in the outer wear apparel
it's male dominated. So there are very few women on
this side of the table that own the complete process.
So I felt it was important to make that distinction, you.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Know, because it's really like almost kind of like because
when you say that, you say on this side of
the table, which means is the leadership side from the
actual application of the putting the material together, the closing together,
I'm assuming that's dominated by female.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
No, it's dominated by males.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
So on both sides, the actual leadership side, right, and
the distribution side, and you actual manufacturer is not by males.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Is that you know? I don't know. I don't know
why men dominate in that area because you would think
as women, we like.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
To especially on the on the manufacturing inside, you know,
the distribution. I got it because men dominating the boys club.
It's a voice and it also becomes so vinistic. You know,
I want to want to do business with a game, Okay,
but when a manufacturer application of putting the material together,
whether it's shield shirt, shoes, t shirts or whatever, I
(02:35):
would think that would have been women would have a
major play in that.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
And that's across the world too. I mean it's not
just here in the United States because when I first
got started, I mean, I know how to sew from
home and economics, but that's a different type of sewing.
That's home sewing. So now that you're talking about processes,
production planning, you know, putting pieces together, that's dominated by men.
(02:59):
Now the women. Now you may have sewing operators that
are the women, but when it comes to the production planning, forecasting,
and the leadership, that's male dominated. And I've met a
couple of women in China that actually run large factories
in some mid factory.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So you know, I'm not bragging.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
I wear custom made clothes, shirts, suits, all my suits,
eat my shoes are custom made because I've learned a
long time ago, and especially for my shoes, wearing cheap
shoes can hurt your feet. And I've also learned that
buying a certain shoe at a certain price can last longer,
(03:40):
so you're not replacing it that much.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
That's correct.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
So is that the metaphor with people in clothes, they
go cheap and they really wind up paying a price.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
For Yeah, because cheap cost she is very expensive.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Okay, yes, talk to us about that.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, chip is expensive because you know, there's downtime, there's
lost fabric, there's displaced fabric, you know, labor problems. And
so when a factory says, oh, I can do it
for you cheap, please really tell I'm a nickel and
dime you and I'm gonna get all your money because
see there's a they're hidden costs behind that. So for me, now,
(04:18):
people come to me and they say, well, you know,
I get my things made in China. I get my
things made in India, and I want you to meet
this price. But I politely tell them I live in Atlanta, Georgia,
My workers are here in Atlanta, Georgia, and I pay
us prices. So I am not paying Chinese you on
and I'm not paying Indian rupees, so my price is
(04:38):
going to be a little bit higher. I compete with
the Chinese, but I don't compete with them on dollars.
I compete with them on speed to market and quality.
I can run circles around it, and they know. I mean,
my customers have never sent anything back to me because
they say, wow, your you know your custom your your
work is good.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
The vision is to me, what clothes do you do?
What type of styles?
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So I started out in well, chunky girls dresses and
I used to do two suits, Paul. I used to
call them church my church lady dresses, and I sold
them all over the Southeast. But then you found a niche. Yes, okay,
that's my niche.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
That's that's what in this business. Chick fil A found
a niche. Okay, chicken sandwiches. Everybody wanted us to buy
their chicken sandwich.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So the reason I say that because you when you
said chucky girl dress, you kind of like dip down
like that was a bad thing.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
It's not a bad thing.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
People are selling shoes for people with twenty Besides twenty shoes,
that's a niche. So you found that? How were we
able to find that from a marketing stand up?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Well, you know I found it because I sat back
and looked at the market.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Okay, I talk, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I stepped back and I looked at the retail market,
and I thought, where are the gaps. What's missing? Where
can we plug into? So I began to look at
the ladies. You know, I see him. They lived on
my streets. You know, I see them going to church,
and you know they looked okay, but they didn't look
(06:14):
to me. I said, you don't look.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Right, want to look good.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I didn't see that. I saw fluffy, you know, moon
mood type things. I said, Okay, there's a market right there.
And I talked my mother and my father into this.
I said, there's a market right there and we could
do this.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I would tell you.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
So when I was manager Steve Harvey, he dropped a
female clothing line we did for full figured women. So
that's why I was just letting you know, is that
strategically what you were doing was absolutely correct. You go
where the market allows you to have an opportunity. Yes,
and we saw that. You know, it didn't turn out
(06:54):
because we were a man trying to sell a female brand.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
We brought us daughters in, but it still didn't work.
We saw that niche market at.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
That because slender women, petite women, they got all the fashion.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
That's exactly great.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I got a size twelve foot.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Okay, a size nine is always on that shelf.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
That looks good, but not for you.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Twelvees look a little bit different, and they're all gone
because they know there's a popular size that they can
sell consistently versus the odd size of twelve and up.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
So from a marketing standpoint, what helps you more observation
or research?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Both?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
But it was more observation because what I did was
when when identified the niche, I actually talked. I got
a part time job and I talked to the guy
into paying me full time money. And I worked four
hours and by should if you're watching the show, wait
(08:02):
wit backtrack.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
You get your kitchen, she goes, get all your food.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
So by eleven o'clock, I was out on the street
taking measurements. So I would go up to these women,
I say, you look like a perfect specimen for my project.
May I measure you?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (08:20):
And I did, and I started collecting. Back then it
was just spreadsheet, but I began to see it plateaued
and I began to see the numbers and see how
how body shapes were working. So then I went to
buyers like oh, I was trying to I think that
the avenue or whoever they were, and so I showed
up with these spreadsheets and these numbers in there like
(08:43):
lady go away. But see, I would go in their stores.
I knew when they had their deliveries. When their deliveries
came in, they had sizes twenty twenty two, twenty four
to twenty six, and they had about six thirty two's.
I noticed that thirty twos were always gone by the
next day, that I would next two days, I would
(09:04):
go back in and check the inventory. They were gone.
I checked the twenty fourths. They were the next ones
to go. I said, okay, so a shortage. So I
began to take those notes. So then we weren't sewing
at that time. We weren't manufacturing. We were buying out
of la and shipping them back here and you know,
(09:27):
selling them. But what really pushed us into the manufacturing
area was the shortage and the fact that we couldn't
get the dresses that we wanted and in a timely manner.
So actually we backed into manufacture. I mean, like I said,
I have a sewing background, a home sewing background. But
(09:47):
then a friend of mine, she said, look, you're gonna
need contractors, you gotta need pattern makers. Then I hired
a designer who kept hanging up on me, and I
finally told her, I said, can you teach me how
to do this? She said no, Okay. I called her back,
I said, she said okay. She said, I'll take you on,
and we became friends. I would fly up to New
(10:09):
York and hang out with her. And she started, you know,
really showing me about stitching. And I said, well, why
does hermione's closed. Why why do they She said, it's
a stitching dollar and she said, look at the stitching.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
More money Making Conversation mastic Lass coming up next. Welcome
back to money Making Conversation mastic Lass with me, Rashaun McDonald.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
You know that's why I always tell me, let me
just set the stage.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I'm talking to Yah where she you know, she's the
author of the book No Money Start Up, How to
Build an Apparel Manufacturing Company, and she's also founding the
CEO of Cresting Consulting Group. You know, I've been fortunate
that I've lived in New York. I love going to
the fashion District Chicago, Los Angeles, be Black and Sons,
(10:58):
which is one of the famous material outlets in the country.
I got my material from that I've had people tailing
my clothes.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I'm a big guy.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I love going in looking at fabric, you know, I
love I love seeing the different styles because you learn
about you know, you know what type of material is
from London and from France.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
They all make It's a big difference. It makes a
difference what you buy, you know, and how long it lasts.
You know. What is your favorite material to work with.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
My favorite material to work with is actually silk.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Silk.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I like working with silk because of the field. I'm
a tactical person. So when I'm in the wholesale markets
or in the mills. An Italian guy noticed what I
was doing. Because I take the fabric and I rub
it over my face. I have to feel good. It
(12:00):
has to feel silky to me. And once that happens,
and so the guy he was like, oh, do you
want to Then he backed up off of me. He
was at the show and I go twice a year
to Paris to the larger ratio. So he backed up
because he understood what I was doing. He said, okay,
he said, now I know what you want. I said,
(12:22):
all right, I said, now you can bring me the pieces.
So I typically work with my Va Luise line. I
work with silk linen.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
The linen girl.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
As long as you're standing straight up, yeah right, the
best materia in the world.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Girl. So as you sit down, you just try to.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Do something good.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Now. But if you do a silk and linen bland,
that's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
We'll have to talk, but I may have to take
you along on my field trip. Okay. I'm a going
to Italy in a couple of months to go to product.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I just got back from Italy.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Did you go to product? Going to the mills because
I fell in love with see Italian Blendz Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Which I do for my Suitskay, the Italian Blendz I love.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
I love those. They're rich and plus they're year round suits.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I don't want to get too much into because I
want people to stay with us on this interview and
this interview. A reason I brought you on the show
is that your advice I thought was very tied to
common sense. But I've learned that people don't have common sense.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
You know, and one of the questions you had, and
I'm gonna go through a series of questions that you
presented to me that I want the audience to hear
your reaction to you said, how can entrepreneurs identify hidden
opportunities in their industries?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
All you have to do is be observant.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
And I find a lot of people make it hard.
And just like you know, you understand the niche very well.
You understand fabric, you understand what you want. You know
what you want. But a lot of entrepreneurs starting out,
you know, oh you know, they do the pie in
the sky thing. I'm down at the sidewalk, I'm watching
(14:21):
what the customer wears. I ask the customer questions, what
are your pain points? What frustrates you, what don't you like,
what aren't you getting? What do you want to see?
And the customer tells you what to do. So I
don't care what industry it's in. All you have to
(14:43):
do is step back and be observant and ask questions.
That's it.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
And then most people don't do that.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Why if I had that answer?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I asked that question because I think that sometimes it's
out an embarrassment because nobody wants to say what they
don't know, but they want to act like they do know.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Oh no, no, because you make a bigger fool of
yourself if you act like you know what you don't know,
because see they're gonna shoot holes in you. I mean,
you're gonna expose yourself. I always ask questions. There is
no dumb question. If I don't understand, I said, please,
I said, can you explain it to me? Now? My
(15:25):
point is if you can't explain a technical issue and
layman's turn that you don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah, that's very true. That's very true. Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
No need for you to do me a favor right
now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversation. It's
free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do
me that favor, follow or subscribe money Making Conversations. Come
(16:00):
back to Money Making Conversation master Class hosted by me
Rashawn McDonald.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Let's get back into it. How do you turn expertise
into income?
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Ah? I like this one so you can monetize any skill.
Anything you have could be monetized.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Now.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
For us, we turned our skill of cutting, sewing, pattern making,
technical design. We've turned those skills into money, so those
people can come to us all a cart if they can.
Don't want complete manufacturing, they say, well, I just need
help with pattern making. I have a dollar amount for that,
(16:39):
because everything has a dollar everything has a worth that
everything has a dollar amount tied to it. And a
lot of people don't think they have work. That's what
it really kind of frustrates me. There's so many talented people, and.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
In process of putting your book together, you know, I
understood two things.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
You know you can what you're doing can be applied.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
To so many different other professions because a lot of
people don't understand that. And I always tell people I
always love using Chick fil A as an example because
they really Chick fil air is not really about the chicken.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
That's not their priority. Service to me is their priority.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
And they've got it down. I've got it down to science.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
You go to you say that, and so they understood
I can't sell a chicken if people can't buy it.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
And that is a mistake that most people and the
entrepreneurs like you said, they want that pine and got opportunity,
they don't consider the work that's tied too that youal
research is tattoo. Because I'm constantly with my company, always
making changes. I try to make sure they understand that
just because we did it this way for three months
(17:50):
don't mean it's the right way or it doesn't come
with adjustments. And because of that, you know, how could
you know how or what role.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Does that to play?
Speaker 1 (18:01):
And making money for the long term, it's too Data
to me is two things.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
That's short term opportune, long term wealth. How do you
perceive data?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Well, I perceive data as the crux of my business.
And I mean I've worked with major apparel companies across
the country, working with their bottom line, working with them
and forecasting. So it was always important for me to
watch the numbers because the numbers will tell you where
you have leakages, where there are opportunities, and where you
(18:37):
can improve. My position is always how can we be better?
How can we have this? How can the data help
us be better? Well, for example, like major big box stores,
they send over data every week to apparel manufactured shoot manufacturers,
telling them every style, every color, every size, every store,
(19:00):
every department across the country. Now I have to take
that data for my client and aggregate it and say okay,
This is where you need to bulk up on your
production because see a lot of times, you know, you
see people just throwing things out on the market. Internet
is just sclutter. They're not reading their data, not at all.
(19:23):
Because see I pulled things off my website, and you know,
I started running the numbers, say how many did we sell,
what color did we sell, what size did we sell?
That helps me forecast how much fabric do I need
to order? When do we need to run production? How
much do we need to cut? Now if it's not
if those numbers are low, one person bought a size twelve,
(19:47):
I'm pulling it. And to me, that's common sense. The
data is going to talk to you all day long
and it's up to you to respond to Now, you
respond with your production, with you forecasting.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Forecasting is the main thing, right and you know, the
interesting thing about forecasting is two things that can happen.
It can make you nervous that you may have gotten
in the business that it's not going to generate the revenue. Right,
not forecasting. You can close doors and not know why.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
I know in twenty twenty three that's why I always
go public about I was about to close the doors
of my business because guess what, I didn't forecast. I
didn't have a business plan that made I had a
business plan that worked for me, but didn't work for
the economics of keeping the doors open, and I had
to make changes.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Right.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So, when you're in a business, the fashion business, their
parel business, they're ups and downs. How do you determine
the right level of consistency to maintain a profit?
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Marnch Well, See, one thing I don't do is follow trends, okay,
because see when they zig Isaac. Okay, So I like
to look at the again the pain points do women want?
Because women I still to this day, I still whole
focus groups. I still get on the phone and talk
to women. I you know, I have church groups, you know,
(21:09):
Muslim women. I talk to the customer. What's happening in
your life? What do you all need? They tell you
specifically what they want, how they want.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Right, Oh, okay, it's good, you know. So what's your
What is your definition of success?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
My definition of success is generating value. That I'm talking
about long term value, you know, and you know, opening
the door for other people to come through behind me
just because I'm kicking. I don't want to be the
only one. No, you come through behind me and something
(21:53):
that is going to outlast me. I don't when I die.
I don't want my business to die. Okay, I don't
want my community to suffer. I wanted to still maintain
whether I'm here or not, that business needs to go on.
And to me, that's the success. So see I've brought
(22:13):
in now. It started with my son. Now I have
my grandsons coming up through the business and we're teaching.
I just started taking them on the road with me.
This is how you test fabric. This is what you
look for when you put your hand on it. I
also make them pick up needles. I make them pick
up three it I make them sweet. I said, this
is where you start.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Samia. I was speaking of Samia Rashid.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
She used to author the book No Money Startup, How
to Build an Apparel Manufacturing Company. She's also founded a
CEO of Cressing Consulting Group and swh apparel? Are you
based in Atlanta? Why Atlanta?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Uh? Huh? Well, I came to Atlanta because I was
really tired of Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Is in Los Angeles? What part of Los Angeles were
you were? You tied up?
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Well, Maria del Ray was that yeah, Maria Dale So, uh,
you know, I was just tired of the hustle and bustle.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
In la is a different grind.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
It's a grind. It was. It was really taking a
toll and we were you know, we didn't see ourselves.
Really we were hustling and grinding, but we didn't see
us making progress. So a friend of mine, she said,
her name is sub Me. She says to me, you
got to check out Atlanta, said, for God's need to go,
she said, don't come back to l A. I said, okay.
(23:40):
So we came and you know, we had a bit
of a culture shock, but we settled.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
In culture shock about Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Now you hold on, hold on. You know, I'm the
sushi kind of girl here. So it's like you were
eating black dyed peas at a restaurant. So my mother
told she says, you were the South here.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
So we got through all of that. We set up shop.
You know, we were still manually cutting with scissors and
the floor and you know, paper patterns. We were still there.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
That's when you start in your business, right, yeah, So
how did you start your business with limited capital?
Speaker 3 (24:20):
M You know, it's really just a lot of determination,
really and uh, asking questions and a willingness to learn
and just grit because we didn't have I think my
mother and I used five hundred dollars each to kind
of jumpstart ourselves. But it was just a lot of
(24:42):
asking questions, knocking on doors. I did a lot of
traveling because I didn't understand manufacturing. I knew we had
to grow, but I didn't under I didn't know what
manufacturing was. I said, well, who's still doing it in
this country? You know?
Speaker 2 (24:57):
To me, I really, you know, because I you know,
I hear traveling in China.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Sometimes when you travel, you really are If you don't travel,
you really kind of stupid, because you don't understand how
the world works, you know, and stereotypes can really dominate
your thought process. So talk to us about the experience
of how you go about doing business in China.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Well, I I actually when I found this guy on
the internet and I said where do you live? And
he said, I live in hung y'all. I said, how
do you get there? I said, how far is it
from Shanghai? He says, we're three hours and he explained
to me wrote it in Chinese, mailed it to me.
I went over and I met him. Yeah, he says,
(25:47):
he says, I mean, we've know how I've known Jerry
twelve thirteen years. He says, I am your Chinese son.
I said, I'm a teacher, just like family too.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
That's how I mean, that's how I got started. I mean,
that's the honest truth. There was no research. I didn't know.
I had no background in Chinese. So Jerry started teaching
me the market, and he was connected. He's connected in
the apparel industry. So he started taking me behind the scenes.
See most people go to the little malls, and he
took me behind the scenes. It started showing me how
(26:20):
it worked.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
It worked, which is really key.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
So one of the reasons I brought you on the
show is that you know there, like I said, when
I was with Steve Harvey, you know, we went and
we designed the line and got just sold in major,
you know, department stores around the country. But there are
also some brands out there where it's already especially in
the leisurewear line, the Casualwet it's just a casualwear that's
(26:45):
T shirts, shaws, jumpsuits that are really popular. If you
want to know what casualwear is. It made Pdedy rich,
It made Jay Z rich, you know, and Dame Dash
when he was his partner was at the time too.
So that is a great outlift too, because people buy
multiple gym pan or gym socks or T shirt.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
We found Steve Hargan, I.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Found that black people, these black men, they buy a suit,
that suit might stay with them three four years, forty
by another one even though they they they wear to death. Okay,
and Proclaim is a Steve Harvey suit, but it was
only one in their closet where they may have had
four or five or six outfits that were tied to
a P. Diddy brand like that nature And to my understanding,
(27:34):
there are brands out there that that you could just put.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
A label on.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yeah, because it's what we call blanket because we do it.
I mean, we just make blanket things and we don't
put our label in it. So we let the consume,
you know, they come to us, we say, okay, if
you buy two hundred dollars worth or three hundred dollars worth,
we'll sow your label in. Oh okay, yeah, it's just blanket.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Awesome, awesome, awesome, you know. I wouldn't think it was
that easy. But you can do that in Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Yeah, because we don't put the label in it. I mean,
as long as it's through our our styles, you know,
so the like the gym shorts, so like we do
a line. We have an active wear line and we're
resurrecting it again too. So when we're running production, we
may do like five hundred pieces. We say, okay, two
hundred and fifty is for us. Two hundred and fifty
(28:28):
will leave blank. Wow. So they're out there. So if
you order them, you come and say, well here's my label.
No problem because for years, you know, we were the
people behind the scenes so on these labels in I mean,
these people are bringing thousands of pieces of from China
and they were dumping them on us, and all we
did rip the labeled label and we were just sowing
the labels in.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Wow. You know, washing someone read your book.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
They should want to read my book because it's going
to give you insight into a world that as many
people think it's a black hole, a magic bullet, you know,
the Wizard of Oz, it's not. It's processes people, the
PP system. But I opened it up so people could
(29:15):
see the real world of manufacturing and then understand that
it's not as hard as you think it is. I mean,
it's hard, but you got to have the grit say
I'm not giving up, right, I'm not going to back up.
I'm going to do this, which.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
I think it's important, you know, because of the fact
that I always tell people, Man, it's some days I
don't want to get up.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Oh well, yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Know what I'm saying, and I get up at four
thirty in the more and know. But I think that
it's tied to what is your dream? You know, what
are you're trying to accomplish if you're not happy? Because
I always believe that what eventually get to me out
of bed is what I want.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
To do for that day.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Okay, that gets me out of that motivates me, and
then after a while, all that need is one thing
to trigger to get me out. I've never been a
person to hit this neooze button. I never understood that,
And I say, okay, staying to bed for timmy are
staying to bed for twenty additional meetings.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
No, that's just not me.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
But when you look at the ability that you have
you in the business to make money Yeah, what eventually
satisfies you besides money as an entrepreneur, you know, it's.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
The accomplishment and it's the journey. And a lot of
people just want to skip over the journey and get
to the end. I do too, But for me, the
rush for me is the journey. It's a sweat. It's
getting too that goal, and then too it's the accomplishment
(30:46):
that Okay, you know, I actually fulfilled my goal. I said,
this is what I said I was going to do.
The money will come. A lot of people chase the money.
I just don't chase the money anyway.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
I know, what is your biggest financial lesson as an
entrepreneur if we're not chasing money?
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Oh my? You know, it was understanding the difference between
cash understanding cash flow operation management at my cost and revenue,
you know, and profitability because I thought revenue was my profit. Like,
(31:30):
uh no, you're broke. You're just broke, because see, if
you spend all your money trying to produce, if you
haven't made a dime. So that was it was real ugly,
you know, and it's kind of like I had to
sit down because I mean we at that point, we
were we were really financially hurting. We looked great on paper,
(31:52):
we looked really good on paper, but the reality is
the cash flow. It was just going. And at one
point my my dad came in from California, and you know,
he walked around my plan and he said, this is
a good operation. So he said, but are you making money?
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Well?
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Have that part right.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I wanted to talk to you about.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
I love it, love it.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
You know. I want to thank you for coming on
my show. Samia.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
I know you were near this a little bit, but
your book I recommend it. She's the author of the
book No Money Startup, No Money Startup, How to Build
an apparel Manufacturing Company. She's the founder and CEO of
Crescent Crescent Consulting Group. How can we get in touch
with you?
Speaker 3 (32:41):
You can get in touch with me by going to
our website, Aggressive Consulting Group, but it's g RP dot com,
or you could call us six seven eight two hundred
five eight zero nine. We give consultation on startup. I
have a checklist before you run off to India or
China and take them ten down dollars, but we will
(33:01):
help people walk through the process and understand what manufacturing is.
It's not just so incident. No, we're not saying down
so it's a process.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Cool, we're here. Thank you for coming on Money in Conversations.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Thank you for listening to this episode.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
No, I need for you to do me a favor
right now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversation.
It's free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do
me that favor, follow or subscribe Money Making Conversations.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Keep winning
Welcome to my show. I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Well, we encourage people to stop
reading other people's success stories and start planning your own. Now,
you don't want to miss an episode, so please take
a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money
Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
It's free.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
You can follow me on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your podcast. New Money Making
Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you
on alert because my guests provide tips on how you
can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or
advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now, let's
(00:38):
get this podcast started. My guest is a manufacturer and
executive and technology consultant with more than thirty years of
experience in the apparel industry. She is the author of
No Money Startup, How to Build an Apparel Manufacturing Company,
and she is the founder and CEO of Crescent Consulting Group, Inc.
And Swah Apparel, the Atlanta based woman owned apparel manufacturing company.
(01:03):
Please work on the Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Shamiya Samiya Rashi.
How you doing, Samiya, I'm doing well.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:11):
First of all, you said woman owned? Was that important
to say that in your intro?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yes, it is important because in our industry it's male dominated.
In the intimate apparel and in the outer wear apparel
it's male dominated. So there are very few women on
this side of the table that own the complete process.
So I felt it was important to make that distinction, you.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Know, because it's really like almost kind of like because
when you say that, you say on this side of
the table, which means is the leadership side from the
actual application of the putting the material together, the closing together,
I'm assuming that's dominated by female.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
No, it's dominated by males.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
So on both sides, the actual leadership side, right, and
the distribution side, and you actual manufacturer is not by males.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Is that you know? I don't know. I don't know
why men dominate in that area because you would think
as women, we like.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
To especially on the on the manufacturing inside, you know,
the distribution. I got it because men dominating the boys club.
It's a voice and it also becomes so vinistic. You know,
I want to want to do business with a game, Okay,
but when a manufacturer application of putting the material together,
whether it's shield shirt, shoes, t shirts or whatever, I
(02:35):
would think that would have been women would have a
major play in that.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
And that's across the world too. I mean it's not
just here in the United States because when I first
got started, I mean, I know how to sew from
home and economics, but that's a different type of sewing.
That's home sewing. So now that you're talking about processes,
production planning, you know, putting pieces together, that's dominated by men.
(02:59):
Now the women. Now you may have sewing operators that
are the women, but when it comes to the production planning, forecasting,
and the leadership, that's male dominated. And I've met a
couple of women in China that actually run large factories
in some mid factory.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So you know, I'm not bragging.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
I wear custom made clothes, shirts, suits, all my suits,
eat my shoes are custom made because I've learned a
long time ago, and especially for my shoes, wearing cheap
shoes can hurt your feet. And I've also learned that
buying a certain shoe at a certain price can last longer,
(03:40):
so you're not replacing it that much.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
That's correct.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
So is that the metaphor with people in clothes, they
go cheap and they really wind up paying a price.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
For Yeah, because cheap cost she is very expensive.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Okay, yes, talk to us about that.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, chip is expensive because you know, there's downtime, there's
lost fabric, there's displaced fabric, you know, labor problems. And
so when a factory says, oh, I can do it
for you cheap, please really tell I'm a nickel and
dime you and I'm gonna get all your money because
see there's a they're hidden costs behind that. So for me, now,
(04:18):
people come to me and they say, well, you know,
I get my things made in China. I get my
things made in India, and I want you to meet
this price. But I politely tell them I live in Atlanta, Georgia,
My workers are here in Atlanta, Georgia, and I pay
us prices. So I am not paying Chinese you on
and I'm not paying Indian rupees, so my price is
(04:38):
going to be a little bit higher. I compete with
the Chinese, but I don't compete with them on dollars.
I compete with them on speed to market and quality.
I can run circles around it, and they know. I mean,
my customers have never sent anything back to me because
they say, wow, your you know your custom your your
work is good.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
The vision is to me, what clothes do you do?
What type of styles?
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So I started out in well, chunky girls dresses and
I used to do two suits, Paul. I used to
call them church my church lady dresses, and I sold
them all over the Southeast. But then you found a niche. Yes, okay,
that's my niche.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
That's that's what in this business. Chick fil A found
a niche. Okay, chicken sandwiches. Everybody wanted us to buy
their chicken sandwich.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So the reason I say that because you when you
said chucky girl dress, you kind of like dip down
like that was a bad thing.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
It's not a bad thing.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
People are selling shoes for people with twenty Besides twenty shoes,
that's a niche. So you found that? How were we
able to find that from a marketing stand up?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Well, you know I found it because I sat back
and looked at the market.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Okay, I talk, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I stepped back and I looked at the retail market,
and I thought, where are the gaps. What's missing? Where
can we plug into? So I began to look at
the ladies. You know, I see him. They lived on
my streets. You know, I see them going to church,
and you know they looked okay, but they didn't look
(06:14):
to me. I said, you don't look.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Right, want to look good.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I didn't see that. I saw fluffy, you know, moon
mood type things. I said, Okay, there's a market right there.
And I talked my mother and my father into this.
I said, there's a market right there and we could
do this.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I would tell you.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
So when I was manager Steve Harvey, he dropped a
female clothing line we did for full figured women. So
that's why I was just letting you know, is that
strategically what you were doing was absolutely correct. You go
where the market allows you to have an opportunity. Yes,
and we saw that. You know, it didn't turn out
(06:54):
because we were a man trying to sell a female brand.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
We brought us daughters in, but it still didn't work.
We saw that niche market at.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
That because slender women, petite women, they got all the fashion.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
That's exactly great.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I got a size twelve foot.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Okay, a size nine is always on that shelf.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
That looks good, but not for you.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Twelvees look a little bit different, and they're all gone
because they know there's a popular size that they can
sell consistently versus the odd size of twelve and up.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
So from a marketing standpoint, what helps you more observation
or research?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Both?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
But it was more observation because what I did was
when when identified the niche, I actually talked. I got
a part time job and I talked to the guy
into paying me full time money. And I worked four
hours and by should if you're watching the show, wait
(08:02):
wit backtrack.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
You get your kitchen, she goes, get all your food.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
So by eleven o'clock, I was out on the street
taking measurements. So I would go up to these women,
I say, you look like a perfect specimen for my project.
May I measure you?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (08:20):
And I did, and I started collecting. Back then it
was just spreadsheet, but I began to see it plateaued
and I began to see the numbers and see how
how body shapes were working. So then I went to
buyers like oh, I was trying to I think that
the avenue or whoever they were, and so I showed
up with these spreadsheets and these numbers in there like
(08:43):
lady go away. But see, I would go in their stores.
I knew when they had their deliveries. When their deliveries
came in, they had sizes twenty twenty two, twenty four
to twenty six, and they had about six thirty two's.
I noticed that thirty twos were always gone by the
next day, that I would next two days, I would
(09:04):
go back in and check the inventory. They were gone.
I checked the twenty fourths. They were the next ones
to go. I said, okay, so a shortage. So I
began to take those notes. So then we weren't sewing
at that time. We weren't manufacturing. We were buying out
of la and shipping them back here and you know,
(09:27):
selling them. But what really pushed us into the manufacturing
area was the shortage and the fact that we couldn't
get the dresses that we wanted and in a timely manner.
So actually we backed into manufacture. I mean, like I said,
I have a sewing background, a home sewing background. But
(09:47):
then a friend of mine, she said, look, you're gonna
need contractors, you gotta need pattern makers. Then I hired
a designer who kept hanging up on me, and I
finally told her, I said, can you teach me how
to do this? She said no, Okay. I called her back,
I said, she said okay. She said, I'll take you on,
and we became friends. I would fly up to New
(10:09):
York and hang out with her. And she started, you know,
really showing me about stitching. And I said, well, why
does hermione's closed. Why why do they She said, it's
a stitching dollar and she said, look at the stitching.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
More money Making Conversation mastic Lass coming up next. Welcome
back to money Making Conversation mastic Lass with me, Rashaun McDonald.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
You know that's why I always tell me, let me
just set the stage.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I'm talking to Yah where she you know, she's the
author of the book No Money Start Up, How to
Build an Apparel Manufacturing Company, and she's also founding the
CEO of Cresting Consulting Group. You know, I've been fortunate
that I've lived in New York. I love going to
the fashion District Chicago, Los Angeles, be Black and Sons,
(10:58):
which is one of the famous material outlets in the country.
I got my material from that I've had people tailing
my clothes.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I'm a big guy.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I love going in looking at fabric, you know, I
love I love seeing the different styles because you learn
about you know, you know what type of material is
from London and from France.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
They all make It's a big difference. It makes a
difference what you buy, you know, and how long it lasts.
You know. What is your favorite material to work with.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
My favorite material to work with is actually silk.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Silk.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I like working with silk because of the field. I'm
a tactical person. So when I'm in the wholesale markets
or in the mills. An Italian guy noticed what I
was doing. Because I take the fabric and I rub
it over my face. I have to feel good. It
(12:00):
has to feel silky to me. And once that happens,
and so the guy he was like, oh, do you
want to Then he backed up off of me. He
was at the show and I go twice a year
to Paris to the larger ratio. So he backed up
because he understood what I was doing. He said, okay,
he said, now I know what you want. I said,
(12:22):
all right, I said, now you can bring me the pieces.
So I typically work with my Va Luise line. I
work with silk linen.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
The linen girl.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
As long as you're standing straight up, yeah right, the
best materia in the world.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Girl. So as you sit down, you just try to.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Do something good.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Now. But if you do a silk and linen bland,
that's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
We'll have to talk, but I may have to take
you along on my field trip. Okay. I'm a going
to Italy in a couple of months to go to product.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I just got back from Italy.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Did you go to product? Going to the mills because
I fell in love with see Italian Blendz Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Which I do for my Suitskay, the Italian Blendz I love.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
I love those. They're rich and plus they're year round suits.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I don't want to get too much into because I
want people to stay with us on this interview and
this interview. A reason I brought you on the show
is that your advice I thought was very tied to
common sense. But I've learned that people don't have common sense.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
You know, and one of the questions you had, and
I'm gonna go through a series of questions that you
presented to me that I want the audience to hear
your reaction to you said, how can entrepreneurs identify hidden
opportunities in their industries?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
All you have to do is be observant.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
And I find a lot of people make it hard.
And just like you know, you understand the niche very well.
You understand fabric, you understand what you want. You know
what you want. But a lot of entrepreneurs starting out,
you know, oh you know, they do the pie in
the sky thing. I'm down at the sidewalk, I'm watching
(14:21):
what the customer wears. I ask the customer questions, what
are your pain points? What frustrates you, what don't you like,
what aren't you getting? What do you want to see?
And the customer tells you what to do. So I
don't care what industry it's in. All you have to
(14:43):
do is step back and be observant and ask questions.
That's it.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
And then most people don't do that.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Why if I had that answer?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I asked that question because I think that sometimes it's
out an embarrassment because nobody wants to say what they
don't know, but they want to act like they do know.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Oh no, no, because you make a bigger fool of
yourself if you act like you know what you don't know,
because see they're gonna shoot holes in you. I mean,
you're gonna expose yourself. I always ask questions. There is
no dumb question. If I don't understand, I said, please,
I said, can you explain it to me? Now? My
(15:25):
point is if you can't explain a technical issue and
layman's turn that you don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah, that's very true. That's very true. Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
No need for you to do me a favor right
now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversation. It's
free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do
me that favor, follow or subscribe money Making Conversations. Come
(16:00):
back to Money Making Conversation master Class hosted by me
Rashawn McDonald.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Let's get back into it. How do you turn expertise
into income?
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Ah? I like this one so you can monetize any skill.
Anything you have could be monetized.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Now.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
For us, we turned our skill of cutting, sewing, pattern making,
technical design. We've turned those skills into money, so those
people can come to us all a cart if they can.
Don't want complete manufacturing, they say, well, I just need
help with pattern making. I have a dollar amount for that,
(16:39):
because everything has a dollar everything has a worth that
everything has a dollar amount tied to it. And a
lot of people don't think they have work. That's what
it really kind of frustrates me. There's so many talented people, and.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
In process of putting your book together, you know, I
understood two things.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
You know you can what you're doing can be applied.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
To so many different other professions because a lot of
people don't understand that. And I always tell people I
always love using Chick fil A as an example because
they really Chick fil air is not really about the chicken.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
That's not their priority. Service to me is their priority.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
And they've got it down. I've got it down to science.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
You go to you say that, and so they understood
I can't sell a chicken if people can't buy it.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
And that is a mistake that most people and the
entrepreneurs like you said, they want that pine and got opportunity,
they don't consider the work that's tied too that youal
research is tattoo. Because I'm constantly with my company, always
making changes. I try to make sure they understand that
just because we did it this way for three months
(17:50):
don't mean it's the right way or it doesn't come
with adjustments. And because of that, you know, how could
you know how or what role.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Does that to play?
Speaker 1 (18:01):
And making money for the long term, it's too Data
to me is two things.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
That's short term opportune, long term wealth. How do you
perceive data?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Well, I perceive data as the crux of my business.
And I mean I've worked with major apparel companies across
the country, working with their bottom line, working with them
and forecasting. So it was always important for me to
watch the numbers because the numbers will tell you where
you have leakages, where there are opportunities, and where you
(18:37):
can improve. My position is always how can we be better?
How can we have this? How can the data help
us be better? Well, for example, like major big box stores,
they send over data every week to apparel manufactured shoot manufacturers,
telling them every style, every color, every size, every store,
(19:00):
every department across the country. Now I have to take
that data for my client and aggregate it and say okay,
This is where you need to bulk up on your
production because see a lot of times, you know, you
see people just throwing things out on the market. Internet
is just sclutter. They're not reading their data, not at all.
(19:23):
Because see I pulled things off my website, and you know,
I started running the numbers, say how many did we sell,
what color did we sell, what size did we sell?
That helps me forecast how much fabric do I need
to order? When do we need to run production? How
much do we need to cut? Now if it's not
if those numbers are low, one person bought a size twelve,
(19:47):
I'm pulling it. And to me, that's common sense. The
data is going to talk to you all day long
and it's up to you to respond to Now, you
respond with your production, with you forecasting.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Forecasting is the main thing, right and you know, the
interesting thing about forecasting is two things that can happen.
It can make you nervous that you may have gotten
in the business that it's not going to generate the revenue. Right,
not forecasting. You can close doors and not know why.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
I know in twenty twenty three that's why I always
go public about I was about to close the doors
of my business because guess what, I didn't forecast. I
didn't have a business plan that made I had a
business plan that worked for me, but didn't work for
the economics of keeping the doors open, and I had
to make changes.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Right.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So, when you're in a business, the fashion business, their
parel business, they're ups and downs. How do you determine
the right level of consistency to maintain a profit?
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Marnch Well, See, one thing I don't do is follow trends, okay,
because see when they zig Isaac. Okay, So I like
to look at the again the pain points do women want?
Because women I still to this day, I still whole
focus groups. I still get on the phone and talk
to women. I you know, I have church groups, you know,
(21:09):
Muslim women. I talk to the customer. What's happening in
your life? What do you all need? They tell you
specifically what they want, how they want.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Right, Oh, okay, it's good, you know. So what's your
What is your definition of success?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
My definition of success is generating value. That I'm talking
about long term value, you know, and you know, opening
the door for other people to come through behind me
just because I'm kicking. I don't want to be the
only one. No, you come through behind me and something
(21:53):
that is going to outlast me. I don't when I die.
I don't want my business to die. Okay, I don't
want my community to suffer. I wanted to still maintain
whether I'm here or not, that business needs to go on.
And to me, that's the success. So see I've brought
(22:13):
in now. It started with my son. Now I have
my grandsons coming up through the business and we're teaching.
I just started taking them on the road with me.
This is how you test fabric. This is what you
look for when you put your hand on it. I
also make them pick up needles. I make them pick
up three it I make them sweet. I said, this
is where you start.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Samia. I was speaking of Samia Rashid.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
She used to author the book No Money Startup, How
to Build an Apparel Manufacturing Company. She's also founded a
CEO of Cressing Consulting Group and swh apparel? Are you
based in Atlanta? Why Atlanta?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Uh? Huh? Well, I came to Atlanta because I was
really tired of Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Is in Los Angeles? What part of Los Angeles were
you were? You tied up?
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Well, Maria del Ray was that yeah, Maria Dale So, uh,
you know, I was just tired of the hustle and bustle.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
In la is a different grind.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
It's a grind. It was. It was really taking a
toll and we were you know, we didn't see ourselves.
Really we were hustling and grinding, but we didn't see
us making progress. So a friend of mine, she said,
her name is sub Me. She says to me, you
got to check out Atlanta, said, for God's need to go,
she said, don't come back to l A. I said, okay.
(23:40):
So we came and you know, we had a bit
of a culture shock, but we settled.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
In culture shock about Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Now you hold on, hold on. You know, I'm the
sushi kind of girl here. So it's like you were
eating black dyed peas at a restaurant. So my mother
told she says, you were the South here.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
So we got through all of that. We set up shop.
You know, we were still manually cutting with scissors and
the floor and you know, paper patterns. We were still there.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
That's when you start in your business, right, yeah, So
how did you start your business with limited capital?
Speaker 3 (24:20):
M You know, it's really just a lot of determination,
really and uh, asking questions and a willingness to learn
and just grit because we didn't have I think my
mother and I used five hundred dollars each to kind
of jumpstart ourselves. But it was just a lot of
(24:42):
asking questions, knocking on doors. I did a lot of
traveling because I didn't understand manufacturing. I knew we had
to grow, but I didn't under I didn't know what
manufacturing was. I said, well, who's still doing it in
this country? You know?
Speaker 2 (24:57):
To me, I really, you know, because I you know,
I hear traveling in China.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Sometimes when you travel, you really are If you don't travel,
you really kind of stupid, because you don't understand how
the world works, you know, and stereotypes can really dominate
your thought process. So talk to us about the experience
of how you go about doing business in China.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Well, I I actually when I found this guy on
the internet and I said where do you live? And
he said, I live in hung y'all. I said, how
do you get there? I said, how far is it
from Shanghai? He says, we're three hours and he explained
to me wrote it in Chinese, mailed it to me.
I went over and I met him. Yeah, he says,
(25:47):
he says, I mean, we've know how I've known Jerry
twelve thirteen years. He says, I am your Chinese son.
I said, I'm a teacher, just like family too.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
That's how I mean, that's how I got started. I mean,
that's the honest truth. There was no research. I didn't know.
I had no background in Chinese. So Jerry started teaching
me the market, and he was connected. He's connected in
the apparel industry. So he started taking me behind the scenes.
See most people go to the little malls, and he
took me behind the scenes. It started showing me how
(26:20):
it worked.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
It worked, which is really key.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
So one of the reasons I brought you on the
show is that you know there, like I said, when
I was with Steve Harvey, you know, we went and
we designed the line and got just sold in major,
you know, department stores around the country. But there are
also some brands out there where it's already especially in
the leisurewear line, the Casualwet it's just a casualwear that's
(26:45):
T shirts, shaws, jumpsuits that are really popular. If you
want to know what casualwear is. It made Pdedy rich,
It made Jay Z rich, you know, and Dame Dash
when he was his partner was at the time too.
So that is a great outlift too, because people buy
multiple gym pan or gym socks or T shirt.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
We found Steve Hargan, I.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Found that black people, these black men, they buy a suit,
that suit might stay with them three four years, forty
by another one even though they they they wear to death. Okay,
and Proclaim is a Steve Harvey suit, but it was
only one in their closet where they may have had
four or five or six outfits that were tied to
a P. Diddy brand like that nature And to my understanding,
(27:34):
there are brands out there that that you could just put.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
A label on.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yeah, because it's what we call blanket because we do it.
I mean, we just make blanket things and we don't
put our label in it. So we let the consume,
you know, they come to us, we say, okay, if
you buy two hundred dollars worth or three hundred dollars worth,
we'll sow your label in. Oh okay, yeah, it's just blanket.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Awesome, awesome, awesome, you know. I wouldn't think it was
that easy. But you can do that in Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Yeah, because we don't put the label in it. I mean,
as long as it's through our our styles, you know,
so the like the gym shorts, so like we do
a line. We have an active wear line and we're
resurrecting it again too. So when we're running production, we
may do like five hundred pieces. We say, okay, two
hundred and fifty is for us. Two hundred and fifty
(28:28):
will leave blank. Wow. So they're out there. So if
you order them, you come and say, well here's my label.
No problem because for years, you know, we were the
people behind the scenes so on these labels in I mean,
these people are bringing thousands of pieces of from China
and they were dumping them on us, and all we
did rip the labeled label and we were just sowing
the labels in.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Wow. You know, washing someone read your book.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
They should want to read my book because it's going
to give you insight into a world that as many
people think it's a black hole, a magic bullet, you know,
the Wizard of Oz, it's not. It's processes people, the
PP system. But I opened it up so people could
(29:15):
see the real world of manufacturing and then understand that
it's not as hard as you think it is. I mean,
it's hard, but you got to have the grit say
I'm not giving up, right, I'm not going to back up.
I'm going to do this, which.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
I think it's important, you know, because of the fact
that I always tell people, Man, it's some days I
don't want to get up.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Oh well, yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Know what I'm saying, and I get up at four
thirty in the more and know. But I think that
it's tied to what is your dream? You know, what
are you're trying to accomplish if you're not happy? Because
I always believe that what eventually get to me out
of bed is what I want.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
To do for that day.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Okay, that gets me out of that motivates me, and
then after a while, all that need is one thing
to trigger to get me out. I've never been a
person to hit this neooze button. I never understood that,
And I say, okay, staying to bed for timmy are
staying to bed for twenty additional meetings.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
No, that's just not me.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
But when you look at the ability that you have
you in the business to make money Yeah, what eventually
satisfies you besides money as an entrepreneur, you know, it's.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
The accomplishment and it's the journey. And a lot of
people just want to skip over the journey and get
to the end. I do too, But for me, the
rush for me is the journey. It's a sweat. It's
getting too that goal, and then too it's the accomplishment
(30:46):
that Okay, you know, I actually fulfilled my goal. I said,
this is what I said I was going to do.
The money will come. A lot of people chase the money.
I just don't chase the money anyway.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
I know, what is your biggest financial lesson as an
entrepreneur if we're not chasing money?
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Oh my? You know, it was understanding the difference between
cash understanding cash flow operation management at my cost and revenue,
you know, and profitability because I thought revenue was my profit. Like,
(31:30):
uh no, you're broke. You're just broke, because see, if
you spend all your money trying to produce, if you
haven't made a dime. So that was it was real ugly,
you know, and it's kind of like I had to
sit down because I mean we at that point, we
were we were really financially hurting. We looked great on paper,
(31:52):
we looked really good on paper, but the reality is
the cash flow. It was just going. And at one
point my my dad came in from California, and you know,
he walked around my plan and he said, this is
a good operation. So he said, but are you making money?
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Well?
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Have that part right.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I wanted to talk to you about.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
I love it, love it.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
You know. I want to thank you for coming on
my show. Samia.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
I know you were near this a little bit, but
your book I recommend it. She's the author of the
book No Money Startup, No Money Startup, How to Build
an apparel Manufacturing Company. She's the founder and CEO of
Crescent Crescent Consulting Group. How can we get in touch
with you?
Speaker 3 (32:41):
You can get in touch with me by going to
our website, Aggressive Consulting Group, but it's g RP dot com,
or you could call us six seven eight two hundred
five eight zero nine. We give consultation on startup. I
have a checklist before you run off to India or
China and take them ten down dollars, but we will
(33:01):
help people walk through the process and understand what manufacturing is.
It's not just so incident. No, we're not saying down
so it's a process.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Cool, we're here. Thank you for coming on Money in Conversations.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Thank you for listening to this episode.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
No, I need for you to do me a favor
right now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversation.
It's free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do
me that favor, follow or subscribe Money Making Conversations.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Keep winning
Host
Rushion McDonald
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