How They Crushed It

Terrance Diggs | Leveraging Your Network, Brand Growth, & Taking Action to Go After Your Dreams

• Direct Mortgage Loans • Season 2 • Episode 5

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Terrance Diggs, founder of D17, shares his journey as an entrepreneur and the growth of his apparel brand. He emphasizes the importance of taking action and going after what you want. Terrance discusses the power of networking and community involvement in building his brand. He also highlights the role of marketing and analytics in growing his business. Terrance's approach to marketing includes event activations, sponsorships, and user-generated content. He shares his experiences in collaborating with other businesses and leveraging his network to expand his brand's reach. Terrance's determination and willingness to take risks have been key factors in his success.

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00.078) If I can get a smooth single off this, I can work with it, because I'm going to steal three bases. know what I mean? Being involved in the community is the right thing to do, and it's the most natural way to network. If you want something, you got to go get it. I kind of got tired of waiting, and I wanted to do more action. Entrepreneurs we've talked to in a lot of different fields, they all start with a version of, think I can do this. I definitely was the kid in elementary school being like, hey, I'll draw your picture for like a nickel. You have to dig for it. It's the name, or my name. Welcome everybody to season two, episode five of the How They Crushed It podcast sponsored by Direct Mortgage Loans. And today's guest, my friend Terrence Diggs from D17. I'm not going to tell you what D17 stands for. You're going to have to tune in to find Welcome everyone to season two. I'm looking at my notes. Episode five of the How They Crushed It podcast sponsored by Direct Mortgage Loans. We have a great guest today. Terrence Diggs from D17. Yes. Just D17. That's the name of the business. I mean, we'll get into what the business is in a minute, but it doesn't you don't give it away in the name of the business. Yeah, we'll kind of go into it in each subsections of Like I feel like it has multiple names, but just D17. D17 everybody. You can find Terrence and D17 in the notes below on multiple platforms. So check them out as you get into this thing. But Terrence, welcome. Glad to be here. Glad to have you, man. It's a great morning. You know, happy to come hang with you guys and let's get into it. Well, thank you. And I love that you wore the orange that matches the how they trust it. I said, I did my research. I tried to stay on, you know, the brand guidelines and everything and, to match a little bit. that really means we're coming into our own Tiffany back there if we've got people that are at know that that on -brand. we're in our alma mater high school shirt. there we go. We'll get into it in the interview. I love that. Well look Terrence we always start off with a little bit a little section with some funny rapid -fire questions to loosen things up and then we talk about you know we try to get into your journey into entrepreneurship

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02.99) What's going on sales and marketing wise? We'll get into all that. First and foremost, you we call it how they crushed it. Do you drink crushes ever? If it's an O's game, I'll an orange crush. If it's pickles or something for a game. Good answer. Good answer. I'd love an orange crush in an Orioles game. Hey, and this is since you know Tiffany off camera here and it's the summer of 2024. Are you a Swifty? I think. For a minute, she's got great songs, but after that loss against the Ravens, you with the Chiefs, I Best answer I've had from any podcast. I'm the same way. I'm a Baltimore guy, so it's like, you know, anything with that or like trying to stick into it, you know, I'm there. Best answer, because that's my answer. I have a really hard time with it. Yeah, ever since that Travis Kelce kicking Justin Tucker's helmet, I was like, yeah, No more Apple Music. My goddaughter who doesn't care about football wanted the Travis Kelsea jersey for Christmas and I told her parents, you cannot do that. She's from Baldwin, no shot. They didn't for the record. Gotta love it. They didn't. But hey, one rapid fire question before we get into your business and this will kind of be a lead in, what's the most popular fabrics for athletic wear out there? I'd say right now it's gotta be like the polyester. But then, know, nylon, could be cotton. It's just so many different things. Well, what Google said was a combo of polyester nylon and spandex. Yeah. Everybody's trying to get their own like form of like, what's the best one? You want to go softer? You want to go more sweat wickening? It's kind of like, you know, what kind of fits your brand and what you want to do? I like to stay more on like the softer side. But that's just me personally, especially doing athletics. like to be super... Well, talk to us. mean, take that. D17, you give us no qualifiers in the name of the company. What does D17 do? you know, tell us. Gotta love it. Yeah. So the name kind of came from... It's just my first initial, my last name, the number I wore in high school, which is where I had to wear the alma mater t -shirt. So obviously D17 came and we come to create opportunity through sports.

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12.974) We are lifestyle and apparel brand, but we work a lot in philanthropy, working with grassroots organizations and just using design and athletics to create opportunity, whether that's sponsoring 5Ks in Howard County, working with professional teams, working with college athletes, just being able to push that narrative forward. And my background is in design, so when it comes to doing something that's nostalgic but vintage but still contemporary but loud but still feels like D17 that's where we're at now. And only you know what feels like D17? Yeah that's the problem I need to I'm slowly building my team and being able to get like other marketers other designers like for this piece we did like contract somebody but it is being able to like take my brain and put it into tangible product. But it's also a lot just like what's going on in the world. Like everyone's a runner now. Everyone's playing pickleball. Everyone's playing soccer. had our pickleball. We had Bonnie from Baltimore Pickleball. She was just, that episode just dropped just recently. so I'm everywhere. If it's cool, I like it. You know, I still love all the other sports, but right now the running has been taking a lot of priority. Here we are. almost seven years in. Good for you. A year full So, year, seven years in, one year full time. So it's what you're doing now. It's what I'm doing. I'm waking up on the computer. I'm making cold calls. You know, looking at analytics, testing fabrics and going from there. And you're the primary designer as well, correct? Okay, cool. Well, talk to us. Look, I always start these things with everybody. And God, it's fascinating the more people I talk to in different industries and different ages, all of it. know, Little Terrence clearly like sports. How do you go from Little Terrence who loves a bunch of sports to I want to run my own apparel design, you know, business? mean, like, how do you get started on that journey? I don't want to leave anybody anywhere because I always love where these stories go. Yeah, I think really just growing up, obviously, like every kid watches like the Chicago Bulls, you know, growing up or like being from Maryland, like the Wizards or the Orioles, the Ravens. Obviously, you see.

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28.512) a lot of the apparel, obviously. And then growing up, I always loved art, I always loved designing. I remember - you a natural art, I mean, are you artistic and naturally? Yeah, would say more or less a more creative, like artistic, like I'm not like a painter or like a illustrator. Creative, though. Yeah, I like literally anything, video, audio, know, static image, just anything in that realm. But I've always been interested in it. I've always loved like looking at old school you know, branding and like shirts they did back in like their inaugural seasons or being able to show in the difference in age here because I lived through those. I still own some of those shirts. Well, now it's kind of crazy looking at like my dad will show up with one from like 98 and he doesn't it's not vintage to him. It's just still been the drawer. Still in the drawer. But now it's like there's such a shift, especially like on eBay or shops like Depop, like people are looking for those things to kind of wear them and like show them off at the games like, check out you know, inaugural season, 83, you know, all -star, world championship, Orioles shirt and stuff like that. And I feel like as I got a little bit older, I was like, okay, this is kind of what I wanted to do. I didn't really honestly start the business until my senior year of college at Towson. Literally right before graduation, I was just like, I think I'm gonna make a clothing brand. I've always loved, you know, Nike, Adidas, stuff like that. And like some of the boutique brands that are out there. And I was like, I think I could do this. I think I could put my own spin on things and really kind of tie my loves of philanthropy and community and being able to kind of put that all into one concept. And then that's what D17. We know it's funny, entrepreneurs we've talked to in a lot of different fields, they all start with a version of, think I can do this. It's not, you know, and clearly there's no business plan. You don't have it figured out at that point in your life. It's, I think I can do this. But you didn't, but you said you didn't go straight into it full time. So you graduate Towson, talk to me. I mean, what's, talk to me about your journey because you're doing this on the side. What were you doing? What else did do? Yeah, so like kind of going back at the beginning, I guess you could say of my just career as a marketer and a designer actually started.

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37.876) in the mortgage space doing. Don't give any other mortgage company any We're not gonna give any shout outs. Whatever they see this, you guys can, know, if the shoe fits. So I started doing that. Eventually I worked for a tech company in Ellicott City doing like philanthropy and nonprofit fundraising. So a lot of foundations, schools, know, big brothers, big sisters, stuff like that. And I did a lot of design for them. Just kind of was a jack of all trades, I guess you could say. In around 2019, I ended up going up to Boston to work for ASICS on their corporate side doing like global social media. So that's when I really got to sit down and see the same things I grew up with. Now it's like, okay, I'm on the other side now. Well, this is fascinating. but how much time are you putting into D17? Like what type of priority is it getting from you at this point? I think in the first couple of years, it was just like my five to nine, other than my nine to five. So it kind of was just like, okay, after work, I can kind of knock something out, a design or, you know, if it's like one or two shirts here and there, it was more or less just gaining a lot of local traction. Like, yeah, I knew how to screen print. I knew how to do embroidery and stuff like that. And then more or less it kind of goes from just family to like friends, to friends of friends. And then people asking, like if I go out, somebody's like, hey, like I remember that shirt my friend was wearing. I heard that was your business. And I was just like, eh, it's just like a freelance kind whatever, know, you're downplaying it at this point. Yeah, I was really downplaying. It was just more or less like a side like passion project. But then as time kind of went on, I started to see like a lot more people were asking the demand was getting there. And I was like, OK, let me sit down and really refine this thing, build a mission, build like what we stand by and then kind of go from there. So that's when the athletics part started to come in, because a lot of people were wearing the shirts to the gym. And I keep telling it is like my same like origin story. I want to hear My friend, she wore the shirt to the gym. At this point, I was like, I'm gonna make this high fashion, you know? So, hold on, what year is this? This is probably 2017. Okay. And then she wore the shirt to the gym, she texted me, and she was like, you know, I wore the shirt to the gym, it's like a great gym shirt. And I was like, why did you do that? That wasn't the purpose for it. But I think a lot of times, I didn't really know the strength of a founder's story. A lot of people associated me with sports.

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04.076) So that's kind of how the brand kind of shifted from let's just make cool apparel to actually doing what we can to help athletes and just those that are into health and wellness. Well, you said, I love what you said. So the strength of a founder story, you don't realize it's a story while you're creating the story. You don't realize it's a founder story till you look back on it. Is that, mean, do you understand what I mean by that? Yeah, it definitely now it's especially with the running, like a lot of this stuff, a lot of people, they look to me like, well, what are you doing? know, if you guys are running brand, am I just gonna be making the apparel for runners or am I gonna be out there doing it too? So now I got to the point where, you know, we're going to different club meetups, I'm running 5K, 10K and prepping for half marathons now. I never did that before. And now it's kind of like this is a new challenge I'm kind of facing. So you're doing the branding and the gear for some of these races. Yeah, we're doing the brand as well for them and then for like our own members too. So we have about 170 members across the globe and we do span out between that and then other sports like soccer. We sponsor five adult soccer programs in the of Maryland. We've also sponsored a couple of like pickleball events just in Columbia, Maryland. And I really want to get into like basketball and baseball, In due time, that'll grow, but the running right now has really propelled the business into new ways I didn't even think of, honestly. Well, one of the things I've learned interviewing a bunch of people is they all say a version of, you're saying it, a version of letting the world come to them. Yeah. So running came, running and that opportunity, tell me that. Did that kind of come to you and just show up in front of you? Yeah, it kind of came to me because really I was just wearing it to run like most people during like COVID and like the lockdown. When I run, it's more of a shuffle. I call it a run. thinks of it as a shuffle. It's how goes. But like I saw a bit of a gap. Like, OK, there's a lot of people that are looking to get into health and wellness. And the easiest one that you could get into was running. But then it's also like, OK, we need to step into those kind of problems like equipment.

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06.19) Obviously what you're wearing on your feet, what you're wearing on your body, preparation, recovery, it's a lot more that goes into it. And I think being able to have the running like with 5Ks that go on for like charitable organizations or schools, or even just like if somebody wants to get people together, I was like, okay, we're tying that community aspect. We're making really cool stuff for them based on just like our research and what they're looking for. And then we're also bringing in the health and wellness. So it all just tied together perfectly and here we Well, look, most true entrepreneurs see gaps. love, I mean, I wrote that one down because people that aren't entrepreneurs, they don't, they're not looking for gaps. A gap is sitting there facing them. They don't see it. You know, did you, have you always thought of yourself as an entrepreneur? Yeah, I've, I've pretty much since like, I don't know if it was almost from birth, but I'll give it to like age four. Like I definitely was the kid in elementary school being like, hey, I'll draw your picture for like a nickel. You know, like at lunch and it's like this goofy picture and they're like, my gosh, I want a portrait. So I'm like, okay, let me draw your picture. And it's like a nickel. then like, you know, the snows out here when they had those huge snow storms, like I'm like, okay, if I go outside and I charge everybody $20, I can make $300. Then I can do that and I can print signs and all that stuff. And I give a lot of credit to my mom. She worked a lot of years in advertising and media buying. I was definitely when they had Corel Painter before it was like Adobe. Like I remember just like making stuff. You're not old enough to, you're not even old enough to see that far. I definitely remember just like going through it and like, you know, early like in design and Photoshop. And even if it wasn't like anything business wise, I've just been around it for so long and like being able to go to just so many like meetings. I'm just like in the back, but like low key I'm listening to everything. So it kind of came a little bit secondhand and then by time I got in the college You know, I went to go for a design degree But that's where my I guess you say marketing journey really started a friend of mine when we were both resident assistants He was a rapper. I was a designer. He said hey, I need to market my songs I said hey, I need a client to make stuff for so we were making cover arts, you know producing shows

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18.506) Again, the world just came. I mean, you didn't know this person. They just brought the world together. That's great. And then, you know, we were doing stuff at, you know, South by Southwest. That's a huge music festival in Austin, Texas. A whole bunch of venues from Baltimore to D .C. just making posters and t -shirts and wearing them on campus. And then I told my professor this at the time when I first started doing it, not under D17. I was using my classes to do client work. So like if I had a graphic design class and it's like, we're doing poster design. I was making the posters for my friend that we were gonna sell later that night. No, I love, hold on. You're stealing me. You don't even need me to interview you because that was. how it So you're an entrepreneur. You see gaps. You've got a creative side. You're still young. You're in college. transitioning that to becoming a marketer is a different thing than just, there's a lot of creative people that that aren't marketers at all. They're artists. And you are somewhere in between the two. You've got the artistic side, but talk to me through, I wanna hear a lot more about this, about learning in school and having these side projects and marrying it all as you're trying, mean, because you're learning at this point. You're learning on the job. Again, there's no founder story yet. Well, it is now, but not when you're doing it. It's just work and learning. Kind of going back to the college ages, so that class I was doing this stuff in, our professor, the last, like our senior thesis was building a brand. So that kind of was my first inclination of like, okay, this is how we're building like tangible products and using like design on the concepts we've learned. And when I presented the final project, I remember it was called Eternal Number. That was like the name they gave us. It was just like a random generator and that's what I got. And I remember he came up to me after class and he was I don't know what you put together, but this is really interesting. And I was like, okay, maybe this is something I could build off of building actual business and then building it bigger. So you didn't do your project on your rapper friend? No, I did something else. This is like a whole different thing. And I built it kind of like on a fake clothing brand at the time. And then, like I said, once I got to like graduation, I was like, okay, I think I could really turn this into a namesake, actually something that's not just a project.

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44.79) And then that's how I kind of grew into like, okay, let me make a t -shirt for my friend. Let me make a t -shirt for myself. Let me, you know, wear it at work and see what people say. Let me, you know, wear it here and see what people say. Let me go to the gym and wear it here. And that's how I kind of started to develop, like people were understanding what the logo was and what I was doing. And then it kind of built into my nine to five, which it was like, okay, I was working at the mortgage company. I was doing obviously marketing for them, social media. When I got to ASICS, I was working on the global standpoint. So that was all creating briefs and working with agencies and teams. And I was really in, obviously it's ASICS, a huge running company. And over time I was like, okay, now I'm really seeing how this works, what the processes are like. It's not just like, hey, I buy a shoe at Foot Locker. But then it's also like, this is all the steps that it took into it. And I was kind of pulling those things. that I was learning from there and pulling the stuff that I was learning from my philanthropy job, like community service, grassroots and stuff like that, and really putting it all together. So that's when we started our first project. And that was more or less just like working with Oakland Mills High School, working with Towson University, you know, with their sports teams, with Oakland Mills and their like boosters and athletic clubs. So it's kind of like, okay, we're using community, we're using athletics. And obviously, yeah, I'm leading the design. but it's really just kind of pushing, like we mentioned, those gaps. Like, okay, I went to, and we're not a FBS school, so at Towson, I was like, I wanna make something cool for our football program. You know, if they're not gonna do it, I'm just gonna do it myself. I went up there with 400 t -shirts, and I gave them out at the tailgate. No marketing, no nothing, just a guerrilla campaign. We gave them all out, and we're still making connections with that today. And, you know, even the Oakland Mills one, was our 50th anniversary. I was like, I should do something cool. love the school. I've made so many connections from it. That's where we were really taught like about community and the people around us and who we're going to grow up with. Then we're going to be with them until they get married and have kids and stuff like that. Now it's like, okay, what can I fill in for them? Especially with the student base, making stuff with the Boosters program. I'm like, hey, let's up this thing. You guys want cooler stuff? I make cool stuff.

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56.492) let's put it together and this is the products that come Since you're talking about business, let me ask something. So community to me, being involved in the community is the right thing to do. Yeah. And it's the most natural way to network. For sure. So you seem like, I haven't asked you this before, by the way everybody, we didn't know each other very, we didn't prep for this very much. I mean, was networking and taking that community involvement natural for you? No. No, I was gonna think you'd say yes. I was very much a person that I just like, I don't wanna be in the spotlight. I really don't wanna Talk to anybody. Talk to me about that. How do you get over that fear or apprehension? I think it's really just you just got to jump in. If you want something, you got to go get it. And obviously somebody knows how to get it. And I'm at the point now that it's like somebody knows somebody to get to where I want to be. And obviously being in Baltimore, Under Armour is right there. You know, when I was working at ASICS, it was the right people to talk to like, hey, so you guys are hosting an event in D are you guys working with small businesses in the area that could potentially come be a vendor or like help sponsor any smaller event activations? Then I would kinda like slip D17 in. So I would just switch the hats out and I'd be like. I want everybody to remember this one. If you want something, you have to go get it. And even if it's not your natural, even if it's not that easy, we train salespeople all the time to just, you have to ask. I'm a big cold caller. I'm a big cold messenger like LinkedIn. Stuff like that, just emails, like so many things. A lot of people are there like, well, who'd you know to whatever? I said no, I really went on LinkedIn, looked up the company profile, went to people, found the director or at least an associate of the marketing. I said, hey, you guys are doing this, this and this. I think my brand can provide this, this and this. And then I just give them a proposal. If they say no, you know, it's cool. I'll do a follow -up or something like that. But usually I try to get stuff that Everybody, have to do digging. You have to dig for it. It's in the name or my name. I can't believe I didn't pick that one up. That's so good. You gotta love it. No, but I tell my, so I have three kids, 25, 22, 19, Tiff's hermit. I mention them sometimes because I try to coach them on.

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04.674) be ambitious and go figure it out. There's info out there if you're willing to go dig for it. I love that I keep saying the word dig, but if you want something, you have to go get it. It's out there. For sure. So you weren't a natural networker. No, that's like, it's crazy to think about, like even before we were talking, like even in high school, I was not like, you know, let's do whatever. I was just like, I'm going to school, I'm going home. I'm playing sports, I'm going home. Was that a hard transition for you to change your mindset around that? I think over time, like we had mentioned, there's things that you have dreams, you have aspirations. Even when I was playing sports, it's like you have to build a team together. It's like, if I want to get better, I have to work with my teammate. And then eventually, at one point, I'm like, yo, bro, let's train together in the summer. Let's do this together. Take more initiative. I think a lot of the times, weed. Yeah. And I think a lot of creatives are just like artists. we get stuck in the idea that someone's gonna steal my idea, someone's gonna do it first. I kinda got tired of waiting and I wanted to do more action. So that's when I was just like, you know what, I'm gonna start a clothing brand. You know what, I'm gonna make a song in my basement, even if it's bad. I'm gonna send that message on LinkedIn. I'm going to ask that person for something. Yeah, and usually, a lot of the times, I mean, you get a couple of no's, but usually it's just like... let me go back to the drawing board and see how I can realign like in a couple months or you know. That's muscle memory, just like training for athletics. You have to train yourself to be that way. Yeah. I believe. For sure. And I think now, I think now that I've been in the position that I've just been in so many rooms now, I can kind of go into those cold calls and kind of command my position. It's like, hey, this is what we're already doing. Here's what I worked with before. Love that. I'm also an ASICS ambassador. what can I do to bring you value? And then usually it's like, you know, we're actually doing a 5K later this month with, you know, Susan G. Komen or something like that. And I'm like, great. Well, actually, if you guys need apparel, if you guys need metal design, if you guys need people just to come out, I'm happy to bring my club. You know, let's do a quick referral link or something like that, just to bring website traffic and then creating content and then go on from there. And I'm out there running too. So I love it. I mean, there's so much to unpack here and so much learning for.

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22.048) Young people, love it. Look, the other one I wanted to probe into a little bit, the five to nine after the nine to five. I mean, there's always more time. If you want it bad enough, you gotta make the time to make it happen. Yeah, it's definitely, I feel like a lot of people, they say like, I wanna be a business, but you still have to keep the lights on. You know what I mean? It's nothing against having a nine to five. It definitely fueled a lot of stuff. Like I was technically like the investor. Like every year I would always take one paycheck and put it to the side and like, okay, this is going to be like my working budget for like D17 stuff. And like I said, I wouldn't have gotten into the philanthropy knowing how to put together briefs or, you know, doing the analytics side, like Google analytics, SEO, stuff like that, if I didn't have the nine to five. So you learned, I learned, and then just took everything that I took from every spot. And then now it's gotten to the point that like old supervisors are reaching out to me. They're like, you know, I love what you've been doing. I remember you were sneaking in the break room, like trying to record something really quickly or like, you know, sending emails. And I think that was just so young and ambitious. Now they're like, weirdly enough, like old supervisors like, hey, you know, I'm running a 10 K later this month. You know, we're looking for sponsors. How can I get you involved? You know, if it's going to be, Hey, I'm doing this. How can I get you involved? And I'm like, okay. This is what those relationships, you it may have been getting Starbucks at the time or something like that. grit and ambition can't be taught. And it's recognized, though, like for you to say your former supervisor said, I saw you doing that, you were ambitious, you were working on that. That's a good thing. Yeah. And I feel like they low key just let me do it. feel like they it. you're getting your work done on your nine to five, they, work was done. It's good for them for letting you. I think they definitely saw what I was doing, even if it was just designing stuff or even if it was doing the clothing stuff, I think they really were like, you know, he's getting his work done. He's still doing everything else. He's, you know, I'm not like on company time just doing it, but it's like, okay, if I have lunch, I can do this real quick or let me just run out and run and mail a package really fast. They just, it just gave me a little bit of an opportunity. And like I said, now they're in the position that they can say, okay, well, what can I do to help you now? You helped me with so much. What can I do for you? Like I said, sponsorships or.

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44.194) know, just coming out backpack drive or something like that. They reach out to me and I'm happy to support what they're doing and bringing that. You could teach classes on how to network, even though I find it fascinating you weren't originally, you didn't consider yourself a networker. No, I'm also very stubborn. sometimes I'm just like, literally fun story. When I was still doing AC's corporate, I really wanted to do stuff with Under Armour. I had a buddy that worked at the Under Armour store in Columbia, Maryland, and he told me the execs were coming in to like, you look at the store. Obviously they want to look at stuff. I'm palsy. I went up to Kevin Plank and I was like, look, man, I'm in Maryland, Maryland brand. What can we do together? Like, I'd love to get your number. Like I went up to him, but I didn't like just run up and whatever. I kind of like stood next to him. He's looking at stuff and I'm you know, this is a great, you know, material setup that you guys have. He's, yeah, you know, we put together some of the best designers. I'm like, yeah, you guys have Steph Curry, Cam Newton, Tom Brady, like, you know, the lineup is insane, the rock. I love to see what the collection is doing. He's like, you either work in the business or I know you from somewhere. I was like, I work in the business, but I haven't met you yet. Terrence Dick, it's nice to meet you. And we took a picture and everything and I like got his number and you know, stuff like that. And that led me to getting back with ASICS as an ambassador, cause they all talk and when I was already there, they're like, hey, we might not have something for you right now, but obviously, know, ASICS could still give you something in terms of like being an ambassador and here I am. You can't teach guts. Well done on that. Well done on that story. I'm just stubborn. Like I was like, I'm going to talk to this man. And I'm like, I feel like I can sell water to a fish. So I'm like, let's just get in there and see what happens. If he says no, I just go home and say, you know, so as you say, we always ask a little bit about. sales and marketing, so we've talked a lot about sales and networking, specifically marketing is now you're, let's get into 2021, 22, 23, you're trying to ramp this thing up, you still have a nine to five, what are you doing to, you've given us a lot of the tactical networking things and event things, but what do you do marketing -wise to ramp up

Direct Mortgage Loans (28:

52.654) Yeah, your know how. Yeah, I think it really came from like the event activation side, like working with local breweries, like I said, local charities, if they're doing any events that we can help sponsor. And I think around like 2021 to 23, we got really big in the soccer space. So there is a lot of like, you know, soccer, like there's a Premier League, there's divisions. Yeah. So now there's like the USL, think with UPSL. USL. Yeah. So a lot of those teams. they need sponsors like the ones that are like the lower divisions, they need sponsors for kits. So I was like, hey, I've got X amount of dollars. I just need to go sponsor like every team in Maryland, even if it's like a small thing. So that kind of really grew a lot of like user generated content. Cause people are taking pictures of the soccer kits and they see the logo on the back. And then now like every player that on the team, they're curious about the brand. If it's other like organizations, they're like, Hey, who's sponsoring your kits? And I'm like, this D17 guy. So was a lot of like grassroots marketing and then as well like jumping in huge and like Google analytics, seeing like what numbers are coming through the channels. We do a lot on social media and I was like, I really want to just dominate Instagram to get those eyes and tags and collaborations and then just going from there. So it was a lot of just like the sponsorships and events and being able to pop up where I can like as a vendor in DC. I went to Jacksonville, Florida, did a pop up. I went to North Carolina and did a pop Just to kind of see how the brand was tested outside of just like my usual circle So you weren't just a marketer you were an analyzer too, which is that I mean anybody who's? To be a great marketer. You have to analyze what works. Yeah, I'm big lawn Just seeing especially I'm a big Google Analytics guy like just source traffic Those creatives are not that way see I feel like I feel like some of them are but they just don't know where to look like I feel like sometimes at Early in my career, I kind of was pushed onto one side and it's like, well, if I'm doing social media, obviously there's the content, then there's also like impressions, engagement rate, know, link clicks, stuff like that. How can I generate that? But I'm kind of looking at it from like a backend approach. How can I tell her the content to drive this part? How can I make a design to drive this engagement? So like, for example, these hats we did were for the Bowie Bay Sox.

Direct Mortgage Loans (31:

15.438) What we did is we looked back on the research from their inaugural season, which was in 1994. We took the original B, but kind of remix it into something else. And that was based on like sales numbers, just like collateral that they did. That was some of the first things that they created. And it was like, okay, how can we change it into something that's contemporary, but still nostalgic? And that's how we came up with this. So it's like the D, but it's also a to seven. And they, I mean, they loved it. So being able to kind of take both of those approaches. And then going back to my sales side, when I'm making those calls, it's like, hey, yes, we have 170 runners, but we have this many men, this many women, this many brands are being represented, kind of those things. And that's how it changes the conversation. man, look, if we had three hours, I have questions I'm gonna ask you after we're done about this because there's so much learning out there. a lot of the smaller businesses we've talked to, as they're starting, they're kind of winging it. And you're definitely not a wing kind of guy, I can tell. I'm definitely in the batter's box studying pitches. Like if we want to keep it sportsy, like I'm definitely, like I'm not just like go for yard. Like I'm definitely like, if I can get a smooth single off this, I can work with it. Cause I'm going to steal three bases. You know what I mean? Everybody, did you hear that? When you're in the batter's box, don't just swing, analyze the next swing. That's, that's phenomenal stuff, Terrence. I'm not, I don't need a home run every time. Like I know a lot of small business owners, like sometimes just getting that one win. can just cycle so many other things and then being able to collaborate on the same levels. And I'll keep it quick. So right now we're working with a tech company in North Carolina that helps match people with running shoes. It helps them understand their cadence, their stride, their preference and sizes. And he's a one shop guy. I was a one shop guy. I just sent him email and said, hey, I love what you're doing. My name's Terrence. I have a running apparel brand located in Maryland. I saw that you guys are looking to get more people and more eyes on your stuff. I love to embed some of your algorithms and forms onto our site. You guys can do all the branding and direction to get more traffic to your site. I'm getting the cool authority because now you can go to our site and match your shoes that you're looking to get when you start your run. And while you're there, you can grab some cool gear. And we formed a relationship, and now I'm going to Charlotte to go run a 10K down there with him.

Direct Mortgage Loans (33:

36.59) We're gonna make some content and have fun. Dude, that is, I love this. This is so much good stuff. mean, good for you. Let me ask you, what we kind of end with most days is it's July of 2024, lots going on in the world, know, the election and all that chaos. I don't know a better word for it. Yeah. You know, and we've talked about your past and how you got here and clearly you got a, I believe you got a tremendously bright future to keep crushing What's working well for you right now today in July of 2024 that other business people in any industry could kind of take away? what's kind of your thing that you'd hang your hat on, hang your D -17 hat on today? Yeah, I think right now, especially with a lot of the events coming up like in the soccer space, obviously they just finished Copa America, the Euros, and the World Cup is coming to the United States. So we're kind of looking two years ahead for that to really get on the ground and like host watch parties, have people come out and get gear and experience the game. And then later in October, we're to be doing some stuff with the Baltimore Running Festival, just being able to work with some of the local clubs and how we're really bringing the sport of running to more people, whether it is season runners, someone that's just getting into it, how are we kind of using that activation to just bring more people to it? I grew to love it. Like I said, I was a sprinter. Anything over 400 meters. I said, yeah, we're not doing that. Now it's kind of I'm running a 5K a day. Like this is nothing. I need to like get my mileage up. So how are we able to kind of use those learning activations in events and bigger sports? Stay connected. Yeah. And just going from there and it's, you know, running has been it. Soccer has been it. You know, we're trying to get into pickleball. We'd love to get into like basketball. You know, I'd love to like host a celebrity game or something like that. Like at my high school or something to raise money for them. And here we are as of today. It's just a lot of emails and actually be running at Kenilworth for the Charles Street 12 Myler preview run. So today you're running August 8th. we'll be doing that. It's hot outside today in Baltimore. Everybody didn't really like the sweat a little bit. look, Terrence, thank you so, so much for coming in, man. This is is tremendous stuff. Everybody check out the 17. It's in the show notes below. This guy's a winner. This guy's crushing it. And I I got faith. Look, I didn't meet you before today. This guy is going to be successful in this town. You're going to hear a lot about

Direct Mortgage Loans (36:

00.45) Yeah, but it's great to meet you, Matt. Glad to be here. Well, look, everybody, thanks for tuning in to the How They Crushed It podcast. Terrence was great, D17, check them out, please. And we look forward to seeing you next time. Thanks.

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Dean Johnson

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