Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in clothing but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Andy Fine, Founder of SARTORO, located in New York, NY, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
My brand is SARTORO, and we sell custom-made suits and formalwear. Our suits are purchased by customers all over the world, and we have a special wing of the business catering to wedding parties.
Tell us about yourself
I've been involved in a number of businesses and entrepreneurial endeavors over the past 10 years. I stumbled into fashion while exploring general e-commerce five years ago, and Sartoro is the second evolution of a previous suit brand I ran as more of a hobby. I stay motivated by looking at business, almost like a puzzle or science experiment. I have a set of pieces that I can move around in different ways, refine and adjust in order to fit them together and have them function together more efficiently. Every day is about continuing to push the needle forward, and I find seeing the fruits of my team's labor rewarding as we continue to advance the business forward.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Launching a premium fashion brand without raising venture capital. SARTORO was bootstrapped from the ground up, with the only funding coming from personal funds. This was not easy and required an intense focus on where our money was spent and on operating at a high degree of efficiency.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
The up and downs are like riding a roller coaster. The highs are incredible, but the lows are equally bad. There are days I feel like there's nothing SARTORO can't do, and other days I wonder if I made the right choice. A big part of success is balancing those highs and lows with each other - staying humble and remembering all the successes that led to where we are today.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
Cash is king. Everything will cost twice as much, take twice as long, and makes half the expected profit. If you truly embrace that and build that into your projections, you'll have a much higher chance of success. Living on the edge where everything has to go exactly according to plan is a recipe for frustration and failure.
Hire slow, and don't be afraid to let your team fail. I've seen too many young entrepreneurs (a younger version of myself included) try to control every element of the business. The fact is, no one will ever complete a task or a project in exactly the same way you would so don't expect that to happen. Allow your team to fail small and fast and to learn from those mistakes. Only by allowing others to take some of the reins and share the workload can you start to build something scalable.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://sartoro.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andysroaming/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewfine/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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