John LaRoy, CEO of Apparel Redefined, interviews Mike Bima as he shares his inspiring story of transitioning from the beer industry to owning Locker Room, a thriving business specializing in team sports apparel and equipment. Discover how Mike revamped the store, expanded the team, and embraced cutting-edge printing technologies like direct-to-film and direct-to-garment to elevate the customer experience.
Mike also reveals his strategies for diversifying into the corporate world, building partnerships with top brands like Rawlings and Marucci, and managing the ups and downs of the sports industry. His emphasis on passion, enthusiasm, and exceptional service will leave you motivated to take your own business to the next level.
Don’t miss this deep dive into innovation, leadership, and the power of a customer-first approach.
Key Highlights
• Transition to Entrepreneurship 1:50
• John LaRoy’s Perspective and Industry Insights 3:23
• Locker Room Team Sports and Customer Experience 6:06
• Diversification and Technology Integration 10:17
• Partnerships and Vendor Relationships 10:30
• Challenges and Learning Experiences 26:18
• Business Advice and Final Thoughts 27:31
Presentation Transcription
Curt Anderson 00:02
Alright guys, hey, welcome for joining us today. We have an incredible conversation. So John LeRoy, how are you, dude,
John LaRoy 00:09
I’m great. Curt, how are you? It’s giving week, man. So it’s one of my favorite weeks of the year.
Curt Anderson 00:14
Yeah. So you know, who knows when somebody catches us, but it’s, you know, it’s Thanksgiving Eve right now for us. And so just tons to be thankful for, lot to be grateful for. And so, speaking of being thankful and grateful, we are super grateful to have our dear friend Mike Bima here today. Mike, Happy Wednesday, Happy Thanksgiving Eve. How are you, man,
Mike Bima 00:32
thanks for having us.
Curt Anderson 00:33
Uh, absolutely. We’re just thrilled that you’re here. And we just want to dive into what you have going on with in the apparel industry, here you have some really exciting things. Bought the company a year ago. So I’d love for you to share a little bit, but give us your background you’re talking about. You know, you’ve been, you were previously in the beer business. Just talk a little bit about your background and how you transition to buying a locker room team sports. So
Mike Bima 00:57
coming out of college, I got right into sales. I got into the beer industry right away as a merchandiser salesman, and it’s kind of worked my way through every level of possible that you could through that level of the beer industry. Got to become a sales manager for a while, then basically at the towards the end, for last three or four years, I ran a distributorship down here in Peru, Illinois. So it was quite the journey with the beer industry. I’ve always as a I don’t know secondary thing, I love coaching. I was always into coaching. I started with youth sports with my kids, and then I worked my way into high school and coached a lot of high school sports at that level. So I dealt with a lot of team sports, a lot of people in the apparel industry and equipment industry, and I got, I got kind of a passion for it. I loved what they were doing. I love what they’re putting out. It just seemed like it was, for me, I always wanted to get into kind of this industry.
Curt Anderson 01:47
Well, that’s awesome, so you know, and I tell you, that’s a huge leap of faith. So just share a little bit you were before we went live. You’re sharing with me that you you kind of planted a seed with the owners, like, Hey, if you ever want to sell this thing, I might be interested. So talk to us about, what was that like, going from, you know, your, you know, corporate warrior, you know, just working relentlessly, seeing a beer business, you could have a great run. You could keep, could’ve kept doing that. Talk to us about, like, what was that leap of faith like? Was it exciting scary? You know, jumping into entrepreneurship. What did that look like? Well,
Mike Bima 02:17
you know, it was kind of a, it was kind of scary, you know, not, you know, I always said, if you didn’t really know the industry, or didn’t know the business, it was kind of, you know, I thought I knew it, until I got into it, right? I mean, so it was kind of a scary thing, because you really, I mean, you thought, okay, yeah, we make shirts, we sell equipment, we do these team shops. I’m always on my phone, buying stuff for my kids, doing all this stuff. I’m like, how hard can it be, right? Well, guess what, there’s very difficult, and there’s a lot of learning in this thing. It’s, I learn every day, you know, it’s been a year and a half or so, and it’s every day you pick up something new, and have a partnership with John and his company. They’ve saved us over and over again, and working with them, it’s been awesome. And you know, in the industry is the people in this industry are very, very compassionate about what they do, but they’re also willing to share and to help. You know, if we have an issue or a problem, I mean, these guys are just a phone call away, and that’s what’s really cool about it’s like a big family here, which is enjoyable. You know, everyone’s, you know, out to get their own little piece of the pie. I get it, you know, you run into that sometimes, but for the most part, I think everyone’s there to help each other out. And, you know, as a whole, I think this is a small industry, small business industry. It’s more of a hometown feel. You know, John’s obviously helping all the little guys out. And it just really has a good touch and feel to it. Everyone kind of has their thing, and everyone works together.
Curt Anderson 03:35
Well, I love that. So John, what are your thoughts? Yeah,
John LaRoy 03:38
it was really good analysis there. I mean, I’ve been working with, you know, the former owners of locker room for a while, and then got introduced to Mike was about three years ago, two years ago, yeah,
Mike Bima 03:49
right, when we were buying about two and a half years ago. Yeah, about a year process to buy it, yep,
John LaRoy 03:53
and yeah. I mean, it is a massive, massive learning curve. I mean, for myself, when I got involved in the industry 19 years ago, originally had a partner, and I knew nothing, you know, I mean, I just knew we’d order shirts from this guy, and they’d come out and they look good, and then, you know, kind of got involved in
Curt Anderson 04:18
the pump. Then John frees up there? Yeah, a little bit. Let’s see if he comes back a lot of
John LaRoy 04:25
these 18 years, you know, just being, you know, I’m back in the lab, and I’m working out, and I’m doing this to get better, bigger, faster, stronger than the other guy, and I don’t want him in here. I don’t want to see what he’s doing or, you know, I want to share his secrets. And as I’ve grown in the industry and really kind of moved into this niche, completely wholeheartedly, you do find these opportunities with the right people to make these collaborations and really make it work. And it is really powerful, because especially in this group at sports Inc, you really are. Working with like the small business Main Street America, where these people are the life and blood of their towns, where they’re the employers. You know, everyone goes into a sporting goods store, you have that feel good moment, you build that relationship. And these are lifelong family businesses, sometimes 234, generation businesses. And I’m just so honored to be able to work with these, these awesome communities and awesome people like Mike and all the team at locker room to really do make an impact. Curt, we talk about all the time, yeah, we put ink on shirts, but we make memories, not just t shirts, right? And same thing with Mike and what he’s doing at the local level, it’s really, it’s really powerful. And yeah, I mean, it’s funny that you were in the beer industry as well. But, man, they buy a lot of T shirts. So yeah, you can, there’s a lot, a lot of merch in the in the alcohol industry. So yes, there is, yeah,
Curt Anderson 05:52
yeah. And I think with both industries, Mike, if you know you, I’m sure you’ll agree. It’s all about the relationships. You know, you know, whether beer industry selling T shirts, whatever it might be, it’s all about the relationships with the customers and going right down the line just and delivering great product. So let’s go here. So locker room, just talk to us a little bit about the company, your team. How do you guys make the world a better place? What exactly you guys do, and when you as we’re chatting, I’m going to put the website. We’ve got some exciting things to show, but just share a little bit about your company, what you guys do?
Mike Bima 06:21
So we’re passionate about what we do. We’re enthusiastic, you know, we we were there for the customer, our customer service. You know, I was always taught in the my prior industry was customer service is always number one. So what we’re doing here now is that we’re really reaching out to the customers and making sure that their their experience with us is, is a one you know. I want them to make sure that you know when they come in the store, that they’re getting that that they’re the number one customer we have. They’re the only one that we care about. I want to make sure that their experience is number one. What we’ve done, we’ve changed some things. We remodeled the store. We made it more of a, you know, customer friendly place where they can come in. We’ve set up a kiosk where they can come in to start designing their own products. They can start can start searching through our catalogs and kind of doing it all here, so that, you know, I just never want a person to walk out the door with a card and say, Hey, give me a call. I want them to have the sale here. I want them to have a, you know, at least a starting point to where we can, you know, complete the job and get here. We’ve, we’ve expanded our team. We’ve, you know, the former owners that were here, they were great, they were great trainers. They they taught us a lot about the industry. They retired, moved to Florida. So, you know, we’re kind of on our own now. The training wheels are off. I’ve got some great people that I hired that they’ve really taken it on as part of their company. I make them feel like they’re part of this. They’re part of our growth. I want them to feel like, you know, when they come to work, that this is their company, too. So that’s where we’re at, and we’re continuing to grow. I mean, we’re not, we’re not done yet. We want to continue to get bigger and get more, you know, more space. We’re looking always for more space, more time. But we do run into that, that them, those roadblocks, and that’s where my buddy John comes in, and he helps us out. And that’s fantastic. It’s, it’s, it’s unbelievable.
Curt Anderson 08:02
Wow. I love that. Not done yet. What do you what do you attribute, you know, like, you know, there’s fresh blood, New Energy. Maybe you’re seeing it from a different, different lens. You know, sometimes as business, business owners, you kind of get in a little bit that trap of, like, doing it, how we’ve always done it. What do you, you know, and you know, don’t be modest. Mike, you know, what do you know, what do you feel that you’ve brought to the table? It’s been a little bit different that you could attribute to, like, building your team, building your customer base. What’s that? What do you attribute that
Mike Bima 08:28
we brought a little bit more of a customer base experience? We’ve expanded our, you know, expanded a little bit. We’ve gotten more involved with, you know, electronically and reaching out to people. I know, I still like the handshake, the face to face stuff that happens every day, right? But I do think there’s, there’s opportunities when you just reach out to people, you know, like email wise and and make a pick, a phone call and start talking to them. We’ve expanded our customer base, which is awesome. We’ve also looked down other avenues, you know, we’ve, you know, everything was team sports, team sports, team sports, which it is, it’s awesome. It’s our bread and butter. It’s our nucleus. But, you know, now we’re looking at, we’re starting some platforms. We’re starting to get in the corporate world now we’re starting to get more of that. We’ve added another embroidery machine to where now we can embroider just a little bit more. We can offer that to some more of our customers. So we’re starting to get into that corporate world a little bit more. And then one of the biggest things that I think that we brought is with team team sport, like the equipment part of the side of it, it’s been a, you know, the big box stores have always kind of dominated the nets and the bats and the balls and all the stuff. I think what I brought to it with my experience in my relationships in the coaching community, with the ad and the coaches that, hey, we, you know, we buy that. We can get this stuff for you, and we’re your local we’re your local supplier. Get it off of us. And that’s what we’ve we’ve kind of grown big with that. We’ve teamed up with a few of major, you know, dealers like, you know, Marucci and Rawlings and stuff like that. We’ve, we’ve dealt with them. We went out and did some bat demos, glove demos, so we’re really hitting the market with that. And then along with that, just comes the apparel. I mean, that’s just part of it, right? I mean, we’re going out to. Were leading with the with the new hot bat, but all of a sudden, all of a sudden that junior college is like, well, mothers, get all my stuff off you, if I’m going to get this off you. So we’ve kind of taken this whole thing, just kind of blew it up a little bit, a lot left man, there’s a lot left to learn about it. There’s a lot more work to do, but that’s where we’re getting
Curt Anderson 10:17
Well, man, I love what I’m hearing here. You know, two points of diversification here, John, I want to hear your your takeaway. But, you know, expanding going into that corporate, you know, obviously that the team sports, your bread and butter, you know, the sports teams, kids, youth, all that stuff is just phenomenal. And I love what you’re doing is tipping your tone more, maybe more that B to B space. And then on top of it, you know, I had never thought of that before. You know, a lot of the big, you know, you know, Fortune 500 or, you know, billion dollar companies are dominating some of the sports, you know, the sports products. And you’re like, you know, hey, I want to get a slice of this, you know. And so, man, hats off too, dude, for going after Rawlings and some of these other partnerships that you’re lying with. John, your takeaway from what Mike sharing your with his, his aggressive plan. I
John LaRoy 11:00
just want to ask a question too, because having, it’s almost like two parallel, similar, but different industries, right? Again, with the beer for years and years and years, you had all these, you know, you had Miller cores, Anheuser, and they all existed differently and operated, and all had great products, great marketing, and then all of a sudden, private equity, right? And for the longest time, too, in our industry, you had all these individual brands, you know, you had the big players, but then you had your mid level brands, your Badgers, your augustas. And really, since you guys came in, right, nothing but private equity. I mean, even after Joe more, you know, momentic is buying everyone and bringing it together. And then, you know, SNS buying Alpha Broder, seeing that happen on the beer side or the alcohol side. Like, is there anything that scares you there? Or do you think it’s good? Do you think it’s bad? Like, just curious, because in our industry, it’s completely new. Well,
Mike Bima 12:00
like in the beer industry, what happened was the private equity that came out, like when sab globally bought, when they bought the Miller, the whole thing, like Miller Coors, the nature joint ventured. And then, you know, we know the story of Anheuser Busch, how that would happen. It seemed like, regionally, they stayed, they stayed firm with what their roots were, which was a good thing. What it did was it freed up some money. I know they came in, they cut a lot of things, but it also then freed up some stuff for advertising and stuff. So I’m hoping, from a global, from the standpoint of our industry that I’m in now is that maybe things will get a little bit more cost. I think maybe they’ll start, I mean, they got to make money. I mean, they’re they didn’t buy them to lose. And I think they’re going to get a little more competitive. And I think we might see an advantage on our end, from the buyer standpoint, that we might be able to get some better pricing. I know that’s what I saw on the beer and I saw like that. There was a big shake up at first. It was a very kind of rocky didn’t know what’s going to happen. Obviously, they they leveled off some corporate people, and they cut the fat there. But from the all the way down, it seemed like it just got better. It just seemed like I got more competitive, better programming. You know, there was just better things, more more resources. I mean, I just saw that in the mirror industry. We’d had more resources after the joint ventures, because it just seemed like that’s where their investment was going back into it, because they were taking that, that where they were trimming corporate management fat and all that stuff. They just took that and they just reinvested it back into resources to help the distributors. And I think from our end, it’s going to help us as the buyers that that’s what we’re going to be, we’re going to be, we’re going to get help from that, that standpoint,
John LaRoy 13:29
yeah, yeah, I agree.
Curt Anderson 13:31
Awesome. Well, hey, if someone’s just joined us here, we’ve got Mike Bema here from locker room team sports. So Mike, let’s go here. Previously, what I love on top of diversifying for B to B, your device, diversifying your product line, you also mentioned technology. So again, it’s, you know, when you’re in a mom and pop business, it’s very easy to, kind of like, let technology slip you by. Or, you know, when you’re a small business, you know, it’s hard to keep up with the big guys, as you’re mentioning. You are fiercely committed to, you know, e commerce and really stepping up your website. I’m going to pull it up here as just before I pull it up, what’s been, what’s in, what’s in, you that decided, hey, I’m going to make a commitment to this technology thing, make it as easy as possible for my customers to buy from me. Where’s that come from? From your on your side,
Mike Bima 14:14
it’s just growth and expansion. I think that’s what you got to keep up with. You know, I think we were set at one of our sports Inc meeting meetings recently, that’s either your hammer or the nail, right? And what do you want to be? Right? You want to be the hammer, the nail and, and I think, you know, you just look at this industry, and I did some, you know, it’s, you know, researching and talking to people like John and his team and other people like, All right, what’s new? I’m, I’m new at this. I don’t know what ink is. I don’t know how these drivers work. What’s going on? And they started talking about technology. They talked about direct to film. They started talking they started talking about direct to garment. They started talking about things like that, that. I think that’s where you just gotta keep up with it. And this is demand, the customers want. And then, obviously, we’re in this world now where it’s what it’s I want it now, right? I mean, I can go online and Amazon will have my door 24 hours. Well, in our industry, it’s kind. Difficult, right? You know, we’re not one hour T places, we’re not that kind of, we’re not that in where I’m not there, but we have to have, you know, the demand for our customer to be there. And I think with the technology, that’s what we’re doing. We’re just trying to make, again, helping our customer get what they want quicker than they usually get it. You know, we’re looking at, every day to looking at something new, you know, in the industry, you know, reading up on, you know, just the business, you know, the articles that come out, where people are going, just doing some research to make sure that we’re not going to be stuck, you know, in the background, and we’re going to be the ones trying to climb out of a hole. Because I think sometimes, you know, I noticed, you know, just locally, with some of the mom and pop places, they just get so far behind technology and in software and all that stuff that, you know, it, they just have nowhere to go but out, you know. And I think that’s where, that’s where they, you know, I don’t want to be that guy. I want to be the guy that’s got the front, front end of it and working with it to make sure that experience is good.
Curt Anderson 15:56
Well, I love it. I don’t want to be that guy. We want to be this guy. So let’s take a peek at your website here, so walk us through. So I’m here showing the homepage and or actually, I’m on the design your own page. Yeah, just a little bit about so a customer lands on here, man, dude, this is awesome. They can actually design their own products. What’s going on here?
Mike Bima 16:15
Yeah? So what we you know, we have our direct to film, direct to garment. It’s a smaller machine. It’s not at the level that John has up there, which is awesome, but we, we, you know, we’ve noticed some customers that come in, and, you know, like we have a design team here that, you know, they’ll come in, they’ll have an idea, you know, and they’ll be, they’ll have it on a napkin or something like that. And, you know, we’re busy, you know. And her time is valuable. And, you know, I get it, you know, customers always right, and they’re always the one that we want to take care of, but we want to give them some an opportunity to take, take some of their ideas and put it into what their own design is. And then it helps speed up our process. Then we kind of get an idea what they’re actually looking for. It helps with the apparel, what kind of shirt, what kind of hat, what kind of, you know, sweatshirt, they’re looking for. So it, it kind of, it kind of narrows it down so that we can give them, like, alright, we got what you’re looking for. Now we can go for it, and let’s get this done. And it, it saves us a lot of time in the process.
Curt Anderson 17:12
Well, I’d say I absolutely love this. John, your thoughts of man, I mean, you just made it so easy. What are your thoughts of this?
John LaRoy 17:18
No, it’s great. I mean, that really is that double edged sword, you know that Curt, we’ve talked about this too before. We’re, you know, I don’t like the response, or the cliche, the customer is always right, right? You know, because sometimes they are wrong. And unfortunately, like Mike’s saying, sometimes you get a walk in. And when you build this great space like they have. You invite a lot of people in, and sometimes, when someone’s coming in for that one or two shirt, and they might take up four to five hours of someone’s time, you know, it’s you never knew who that person is going to turn into. And you don’t want to turn away. We also want to provide a solution that allows that person to take the bull by their horns, you know. And let them say, Hey, here’s, here’s a here’s a technology. Go spend some time and do this, try and play around with it. And then once we get ready for production, we’ll let you know if it’s ready to go or not. But, and then, I mean, that’s just the walk in type stuff, Mike, but like, there is, there is a lot of value, because you definitely see, I mean, just look at the trade show, for example, right? Like maybe you or a couple other guys stopped by the booth that said, you know, they don’t get as much time to walk the show floor because they’re I got a meeting at Samar. I got a meeting at Adidas. And the whole reason for that is, you know, again, with COVID, I think they looked at it as an advantage and a way to trim fat. We’re like, hey, we don’t need to go store to store anymore and show the fall line and show the spring line. You know, we don’t have these road sales guys out there. Because, I mean, that’s how it used to be. They show up. You got to schedule a time they show you anything. But now they’re taking the opportunity to show but that takes some time away. Conversely, right? You know, like, how do you get that time? But also enable your customer to to do that, because not every customer wants to be talked to. I mean, you know, like you see with the younger people, I’m like the phone, pick up the phone, call. These people prefer to email type thing. So, you know, they they like the digital interaction because that’s how they’ve grown up. And I like the face to face. I appreciate that. I always prefer that. But there is a customer segment where, if they come to your store and you don’t have a digital option, you you’re lost, you know? I mean, it’s like, I’m not going to talk this guy. I don’t know what to do. I want to, I want to interact with the computer. So to have both of those to cover that entire pie of customer is great. And I think it’s a really clean site, very, very user friendly and and hopefully working for you too, because it’s, it’s one thing that it’s, you’ve got to guide people to it, and you don’t want to off put them, you know. So. It’s kind of that, that tightrope walk there we
Mike Bima 20:02
found, like, some success already with it in early stages, is the, is the is the teams. Again, we go back to sports, but it’s uniform. I mean, you know, you get all these travel teams that come in, and they’re the Vandals that are predators, they’re the legends that are this. They’re that. They’re like, well, design me a jersey. Well, what are your colors? What are you doing? I mean, so we guide them over here. They get into the champ row, they get in the rolling site, they get into something like that, and then they send us their design of their hat and stuff. And it’s just that we can tweak it, make it 100% correct, and then it just helps us speed along the process.
John LaRoy 20:34
Yeah. How like, is it difficult for you to add products to this?
Mike Bima 20:39
No, it’s been pretty smooth. It’s called deco network. It’s, it seems we visit a guy about 40 minutes from us. He has a little place called the logo factor, and he can introduce us to the software. And it seems like it’s been working for us. We’re not 100% into it like, like he is, but we’re, like I said, we’re just starting with this. We’ve been working really hard the last couple weeks on getting building our corporate stores. What we’re doing with our corporate stores, we’re going to try to make those a 24/7 store so that, you know, guy gets a new hire, he can put, hey, here you go, you know, here’s coupon. Go in there and get yourself $200 worth of polos or whatever. And then, you know, we told him the turnaround is going to be, you know, two weeks on it. But you on it, but at least that process is there now we can get up. Now that’s, that’s where we’re going to try to hit the bead B to B. Industry is hard with that that, hey, you don’t have to carry inventory of all this stuff, you know, we can do this for you.
John LaRoy 21:35
Awesome. Yeah, love it,
Curt Anderson 21:37
yeah, gearing up for greatness. So kudos, Mike. This is a phenomenal website. Looks fantastic professional. And I tell you, one of the taglines that John always like to say is, like, how do you help that ideal customer make a buying decision on a Friday night at midnight without having to wait for you to open up your doors on Monday morning? Hey, like, you know, Friday night at midnight, or, you know, every weekend, somebody can sit there and, like, design their own, that’s their own sweatshirt, t shirt, hat. So again, I just absolutely love the direction you’re going here. Let’s go here. You’re, you are a newish entrepreneur. We always like to say, it takes a village to raise a child. Well, it takes a village to raise a business. What do you look for in partnerships? When you line with like your technology partners, say your apparel partners, like our friend here, John, what are you looking for when you’re as a newer entrepreneur, teaming up with vendor partners to help elevate your company to the next level.
Mike Bima 22:25
Just the same way I look at when I hired a new employee, too. It’s just if they’re passionate about the business, business, industry, or Pat, you know, and enthusiastic. I mean, I don’t think anything. Success can’t happen without enthusiasm. I always say that. I mean, you can’t be just a you know. I mean, that’s, that’s my motto. I mean, you have to be enthused to be successful. And if you, if you, you know, if you can’t do that, you know, when you’re out there seeking, like we dealt with a guy from Hirsch technologies, I don’t know. He was one of the guys that helped us along the way and picking out our new machine. And names, Curt, great. I mean, passionate, just a great guy. I mean, he was just, he Curt, called us, picked up the phone. Hey, what do you guys need? Are you there? You know, our friends at Sam are, you know, with Ben. He’s always like, Hey, Mike, if you need something, just give me a call. They’re customer service Melissa, either. That’s why we do business with them, you know. I mean, there’s a lot of people out there, you know, we have other ones out there that we can do business with, but it’s those are the people that I’m looking for that really, truly, they seem like they’re invested in us, you know, a little bit. And I think they are because, I mean, obviously, if they were buying off them, they’re making a few bucks too. But I love how they’re invested in us, you know, they they’ve really showed their compassion. They really care about us.
Curt Anderson 23:28
Yeah, I love that. John, your thoughts, you know, working with folks, you know, small entrepreneurs, small businesses, your thoughts here.
John LaRoy 23:38
I mean, yeah, it’s reciprocal. I mean, I always say like our industry is, I feel like one of the last frontiers where it’s very relationship based sales, where Mike and his team, they do what they do, they go sell, and when they need us, we’re there to help them and support there’s a lot of people in the industry, especially in the sports and community, that you Know, do one or two decoration types in house. And sometimes there’s an order that’s, you know, above the capacity, whether it’s, it’s pieces or colors or whatever. And you know, that’s where we develop software to kind of be that conduit between us and them, and at the end of the day, you know, whatever we can do to help them be successful, that’s that’s what we’re here for. And it’s a really good synergy between, you know, two parties and and really it is relationship based sales, where you’re relying on us to deliver on time, quality product make you guys look good. And if that continues to happen, we continue to get business. You guys continue to business. So it’s one of those rare situations where, if you have three people in a deal and all three win, it’s usually the best type of deal. And really, every time there’s a transaction that happens in this situation, customer wins, Mike wins, we win. It’s it’s a, it’s more than a. This is a thankless industry, as Mike knows. You know, no news is good news in our industry. Right, but it is what it is. But, yeah, I mean knowing, and this is what we tell our people too, you know, like, hey, everything you do matters, because even though you don’t get a thank you all the time, it’s not needed, it’s your job. But know that what you’re doing matters, and it really does, you know,
Curt Anderson 25:20
yeah, are you trying to say, like, people don’t give you, like, two months notice. Like, come in. Like, hey, I need this yesterday. You know, you know, on occasion, not
Mike Bima 25:29
often, right? So, yeah, you know, Black Friday, you know it’s coming up. Can I get a shirt for it? Oh, yeah, sure, yeah, touching John too about to think that you, you know, I’m, I’m always, you know, anytime you know, we just did a job for someone. And actually, the guy who set it up for me got me, connected with him, he got back to me and said, Hey, a plus job at your team. They got back to me said, you guys did great. It’s always good as a as an owner, too, to share that with your team. Go out there. And you know that every once while, everyone needs a pat in the back, you know. And it’s just, you know, it’s always great to get a compliment, and I think as an order, you have to share that with your with your team, and make sure they’re, they feel like they’re really appreciated.
Curt Anderson 26:10
So alright, Mike, we’ll start winding down. You’re a busy guy. You got business to run here, so we don’t want to keep you all day, but here’s a question for you. I don’t, I don’t want to put you on the spot, but if you could go back, what’s one thing be when you became an entrepreneur? Is there one thing that happened, or occurrence that you can think of, you’re like, Man, I didn’t see that coming, or nobody warned me on this. Was there any, was there any shocking moment event as an entrepreneur that you really didn’t see coming, anything like that, as when you started out your journey? Yeah,
Mike Bima 26:39
I mean, there was a couple. One that stood out was just, you know, the timing of everything, you know, how things just kind of got bottlenecked up, like, right now this crazy time, John’s probably, you know, he’s probably busier than heck, and, you know, and I wasn’t prepared for that when, when my first year with it. I just thought it kind of was this kind of a smooth transition. And learning the timing, the calendar, of how things work in our industry, was kind of interesting. Knowing, you know, I was kind of shocked. Like, January is kind of like, where’s everyone? I mean, am I out of business? Or, you know, Did I, did I make everyone mad? Or what happened? But, you know, that was kind of the shocking thing to me, just knowing the the peaks and the valleys in this industry, there’s always, there’s a ton, there’s beer industry, same way, peaks and valleys, but they’re a little bit different here in the, in the in the apparel industry, but learning that that was kind of like the thing that kind of threw me off a little bit. But, you know, adjust, overcome, and then just prepare. You know, get ready for the for the next one.
Curt Anderson 27:30
Yeah, I love it. So, yeah, those peaks and valleys, they come fast and furious. Last question for you as we wind down, Mike, best business advice that you’ve ever received Best business advice that you’ve ever received or that you’d like to pass on to early stage young entrepreneur out there?
Mike Bima 27:46
When I first started the beer industry, there was, it was a family owned business, montino distributing is from Illinois, Illinois, probably one of the best bosses I’ll ever have. I don’t think I hopefully don’t have another one, right? But he just said, he’s always told me he goes customer service, customer service. Customer Service will take you all the way in any industry you do. And that’s all, that’s all I pride myself in. I agree with John. You know, sometimes the customer isn’t always right, but, I mean, it’s customer service, it’s just being there for him. And it’s kind of, you know, you know, my phone’s always in my pockets, always by my side, it’s always by my bedside. It’s just being there for that person. Just don’t know when they’re going to reach out. They need your hand. They need your help. Not every call is a bad call, even though sometimes you look at your phone, you’re like, oh, what I do now, sometimes it’s a good one and but you gotta answer every one of them. You can’t turn them down. You can’t avoid it. Get right to the spot. I’m very you know when it comes to that, it’s just being honest and truthful and transparent with everyone. Even if you make a mistake, own up to it, and guess what that customer comes back. I mean, as long as you’re, you’re you’re upfront with them, and honest and and you tell them, hey, we did it. We made that mistake, they’ll come back. But it’s customer service for me.
Curt Anderson 28:56
Wow. Great answer. So all right, John, parting thoughts, any takeaways from our conversation today with Mike Bima,
John LaRoy 29:03
no, I mean, just in the spirit of of the holiday, thankful for Mike and the team over at locker room. I appreciate you guys coming on the short notice. I know we try to do it at the booth in Phoenix, but no. Thank you for the business, the trust. I mean, I know it’s a transition and a lot coming at you fast, like you said, man, like the fall and the spring, when those seasons hit. Man, it’s It’s chaos. It is chaos.
Mike Bima 29:32
I like it, though, yeah. Feet off, yeah. Feed off. Yeah, sure,
John LaRoy 29:36
yeah. Thank you so much, and I appreciate it. And looking forward to continuing the partnership
Mike Bima 29:42
I do too. Thank you. I know you guys. Nr, you guys have been great to us, and you guys are a daily conversation. I can guarantee that it’s always are we taking this A and R, that’s it. Every day. Appreciate it.
Curt Anderson 29:52
Awesome. Well, Michael, thank you. We appreciate you. We send you and your family warm wishes for an amazing, incredible. Thanksgiving. Appreciate you. Keep crushing it. We wish you just a strong closing at 24 can’t wait to see what you do next year. Keep that momentum going. My friend John, thank you, dude. I appreciate you. Thanksgiving to you and your wonderful family and everybody out there, whether you’re catching this before Thanksgiving, after Thanksgiving, we send you tons of blessings and thanks, and we appreciate you, and we will catch you at our next interview. So alright, guys, peace out for now and most time. Have a
Mike Bima 30:25
good one. Thanks, guys. Bye.