THE JOURNEY PART 2 - First Sale

Welcome back everyone, this is the second post of this series of blogs I'm doing in which I document the entrepreneurial journey that I am on as a founder of NLU. This will include, in great details, the highs and lows I experience, the struggles, challenges and lessons. I am to document all this not only for my reflection, but hopefully so that others can learn from my shortcomings so that they don't have to make the same mistakes.

As I said in the previous post, (as we are currently playing catch-up on the timeline) I wanted to talk about my first sale and later, how I established my vision for this brand and the identity I wanted it to represent.

On the 24th of May 2025, about 2 months after I opened the store, I got my first sale. This sale wasn't technically a direct sale, as I had dm'd a customer that had shown interest previously and asked them a series of questions about their thoughts on the brand. As compensation for giving me their time and opinions, I created a discount just for them at 20% on their whole order. I got very lucky as I found a great customer who after providing me with their in-depth thoughts, immediately went and purchased a the IKIGAI Hoodie with their discount code.

This was my first sale EVER, in my prior failed projects I hadn't created one single sale, and this one as the first one. As many would, I lost my shit. I was so excited, proud and happy. In addition to all those emotions I also was relieved. By that one customer purchasing that hoodie they had confirmed to me that there was someone out there that liked the shit I was making. Which meant that I wasn't pouring money into this thing for nothing (hey 3$/day was very expensive for me)

I collected my marbles, got my shit together and fulfilled the order. I did this, completely ignorant of one thing.

I was using a supplier in the UK.

If you follow the store, you know that we only ship our products to the US, Australia and New Zealand.

A big fucken mistake.

Despite this, the supplier did their thing in a decent amount of time, however, after a few days I noticed that the product was never shipped on time -  (first red flag) at the time I didn't think much of it, I think it was a weekend so I wanted to give them the benefit of doubt. More days pass, and now I'm wondering, why the hell hasn't my customers hoodie left the UK... After a bit of back and fourth communication, finally the hoodie left and was with the courier. I think this was about 10-15 days after the customer paid. So we were already into June at this point. The hoodie then took a fuck ton of time to get from the UK to the US. Despite being with the courier it remained in the UK for a large amount of time - (2nd red flag) At this point I was like, Okay, I just managed to get a great customer, and I am immediately about to lose this great customer. Because on the site it promised 7-12 days, and there the hoodie was, well passed the delivery date, STILL IN THE UK.

I was not aware of how much time shipment takes to the US from the UK using that particular supplier and that particular courier. I noticed this when it was way too late.

I believe it was about ONE MONTH LATER (24th June) that the great customer received his hoodie.

My brother when I tell you. A few days prior to them receiving the hoodie I let them know when it gets there, I will refund shipping because you do not have to wait THAT long to receive your product. 

Some of you (if any) may be reading that wondering:

"hOW sTInGy oF YoU I WOuLd'vE RefUnDEd ThE wHoLe cOSt"

Calm your tits princess, I literally could not afford refunding the whole cost of the hoodie at the time. The 20% discount massively dug into margins. I shrugged it off because I figured that the life time value of this great customer will outweigh the short term losses or lack of profits. In theory my assumption had grounding, in practice, yet to be seen.

ANYWAY, the day FINALLY arrives, the great customer received their hoodie - 30 days later but that's besides the point now - 

and they fucken LOVED IT.

The great customer did not hesitate to let me know how happy they were with the hoodie, how it turned out, comfort, feel, and print. Again I was RELIEVED. Mainly because I was scared that I was going to lose such a good customer who was able to withstand WAY TOO MUCH WAITING. Very few customers are willing to wait that long and not ask for any refund of any kind.

And that basically sums up how I made my first sale, it was very hectic, full of excitement and dread all at the same time. I learnt a lot about the processes required for handling, fulfilling and shipping out my products.

Immediately after that whole mess I changed suppliers and made them US based for US customers and Australian based for the Australians and the people of New Zealand. I realized that shipping times matter a lot for overall impressions of brands and clothing businesses and that I needed to pick suppliers not on the basis of whether or not they were convenient for me, but with the goal of being as convenient for the customer as possible. So DON'T WORRY, you won't wait 30 days for your shipment, it will arrive as indicated on the website.

But I think another huge lesson is - 

Communication / Transparency with customers.

Throughout the 30 days from payment to receiving their order, I maintained constant communication with them. I let them know that we are a start-up and we are going to get a few things wrong, that I chose the wrong supplier and that I switched to new better suppliers that are locally based (in the United States) and I continued to communicate with them whenever I received any updates regarding their order. I tried to be as transparent as possible because I put the customer's experience at the forefront of my priorities. I fucked up with the suppliers but if there was anyway to make the whole experience from purchasing to wearing any better, I did so.

I strongly believe that had I not maintained a good level of communication and transparency (I'm not saying spam your customers with excuses and what not, but rather let them know the situation (if any) take accountability and tell them how you plan on fixing it) - If I had not maintained that level of communication and transparency I think that customer would've asked for a refund a LONG TIME AGO, or at the very least would never interact with the brand again and end up considering us scammers.

Okay so I may have rambled on for quite some time, I'll leave the realization of brand identity for the next post. I hope you enjoyed, and if not at the very least learnt something for your own brand.

I'll see you later,
Aleks

BECOME EXCEPTIONAL