Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony Smith.
Hi Tony, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am originally from Knoxville, TN, and in my senior year of high school in 2009, I wanted to start. a social network called The Young Successors that would connect teenage entrepreneurs so we could barter services and network together since having money back at 18 wasn’t normal before the days of Instagram influencers and Youtube ad revenue.
The Young Successors social network attempt was the first entrepreneurial experience I had and although it did not work, it lead me to learn a skill that would forever change my life. I couldn’t pay for design services back then so I was forced to go to Youtube University and learn graphic design by watching tutorials on how to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
Fast forward to my college days at the University of Tennessee, I was making noise locally with my design skills which led me to the opportunity of being the go club flyer guy in the city as well as the person making logos, business cards, and websites for small businesses.
You never know what doors will open for you in life. There was another guy on campus who was also in the graphic design space. Instead of us competing, we decided to partner up and add all of our services under one umbrella called InHouse GFX.
What was so great about me teaming up with a partner is that it taught me the second skill that would forever change my life and that was the skill of printing t-shirts also known as screen-printing.
When I first got involved in t-shirts, I didn’t know much about it but learned how you can make money without even owning any equipment. All through college, I was earning money by operating under a business model called contract screen-printing. In this t-shirt business model, I had an agreed-upon discount pricing list with a screen print shop and in return, I would bring them clients. Once I got a client, I would order the blank shirts from a wholesale provider, have them shipped to the print shop, and deliver them to the customer once finished. This was great for me while I was in college because I was able to make several hundred dollars and sometimes even a couple of thousand dollars off each order while being a full-time student.
From my on-campus success, I started getting the attention of the members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. They saw me as valuable and next thing you know, I’m pledging Alpha as a freshman. This leads up to my after-college business endeavor.
In my senior year of college, I was helping out at a local print shop that was printing my t-shirts and in return, they gave me free office space. Like I said earlier you never know what new opportunities will bring your way.
I noticed something I never had seen firsthand experience while working at this local print shop. They were shipping out hundreds of orders daily to people nationwide. It really had my mind going and had to be a part of it. The main reason was, is because they were literally making money in their sleep selling t-shirts online, while my current business operation was me hustling finding clients, being a sales guy, and hoping to land a new t-shirt account with a company.
After graduation in 2013, I had the idea to start a brand called Letters Greek Apparel where I would make better-looking clothing for the Divine Nine greeks. The first night I made the website, I created a Facebook ad, went to sleep, and woke up to $600 in sales. For the next four years, I operated my greek brand peaking at $734,000 in annual revenue.
After my peak year, I moved from Tennessee to Atlanta, GA in 2018 and opened a retail store for my brand Letters Greek Apparel in West Midtown which was right across from the popular restaurant Six Feet Under.
For a while, business was great, but I started to lose a little bit of my passion for the t-shirt space due to the stress of increased expenses. That pressure led me to start another business by accident that I had no experience.
It’s now 2019, I’ve been in Atlanta for a year, but felt I needed to make myself more valuable and I wanted to network with the many great creatives Atlanta has to offer. I took a leap of faith and started my first event space in downtown Atlanta called White Label Creative Space. I thought I was going to have to do all this programming to keep people in the door, but I was totally wrong. After I completed the build-out and renovations, I placed my event space on Peerspace.com and instantly was booked out. My space became Baby Shower central 😂. We were booked out so much that we would have an event on Friday, 2-3 events on Saturday, and another event on Sunday.
Funny story about the event space. We have so many events you never really know who is booking the space you just see the name of the event coordinator and the event time on the calendar. In October 2020, we had a pop-up shop called “A Girly World” and celebrity guests such as Ari Fletcher, King Von, and hairstylist Arrogant Tae were in attendance. The cops ended up having to shut the event down but the publicity we got from the event was amazing. We now were baby shower and Pop Up central.
After the success of the event space, I started noticing the high rent of the greek store wasn’t making financial sense. I was paying $6000 a month for 4500 SQ FT (1500 SQ FT upfront for the retail store and the rest was in the back as the warehouse operations for the online business.
I was blessed to be able to break my lease right before the pandemic. I moved from the 4500 SQ FT $6000 a month warehouse to a 5000 SQ ft warehouse in South Fulton which is only $2500 a month. My business profit and loss statement was very happy with this decision.
Upon moving to a new warehouse, I also had a change in passion for the greek apparel company. I felt like I wasn’t reaching enough people since Letters Greek Apparel was in a super niche market, being you had to be not only African American but also in a fraternity or sorority. I had the vision for a bigger and better brand. I also did not enjoy paying the licensing fees for each greek organization which is usually a large upfront cost or 10% gross revenue on every product sold.
That’s when I launched my current brand Historically Black Apparel, which catered to a much broader audience but was still similar to the large email list I had built with the previous greek brand. Historically Black Apparel offers premium apparel such as jackets, t-shirts, hats, tracksuits, and more all based on Black History and the cultural moments that African Americans have created in this county. I really enjoy the amount of positive feedback that comes to this brand and the impact it serves.
Fast Forward to 2021, my first event space, White Label Creative Space in Downtown Atlanta was located in a space that was never supposed to be an event space. I was inexperienced and thought that any retail location could be an event space. I was definitely wrong. The space I had leased was in a mixed-used building under apartments. I was always getting noise complaints even when the music was barely on. It was inevitable that this space wouldn’t last. Upon catching wind of the news, the landlord would not be renewing my lease put me in a rush to find a new location.
Like I said earlier you never know what doors will open for you in life. From my landlord forcing me out, it was very stressful, but it lead to me opening two new event spaces. I currently operated Black Label Event Space on Monroe Dr NE up the street from Ponce City Marke and Piedmont Park and the new and improved White Label Creative Space in Smyrna .2 miles from the Braves Stadium at the Battery.
From all my experiences in business from ups and downs, my mission when I’m not directly operating my business locations is to help new entrepreneurs get to the next step. I do this by offering consultation and digital education through eBooks and courses on the topics I have encountered in my entrepreneurial career.
In conclusion, My name is Tony Smith, owner of the clothing line Historically Black Apparel and two Atlanta event spaces White Label Creative Space and Black Label Event Space.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My main obstacle has been navigating the event space business. Most landlords do not want to accept event business due to what they believe as an increased risk, parking issues, and noise complaints.
Searching for an event space can take up to a year of deep searching and hearing a lot of the word no before getting a Yes.
As you know, we’re big fans of Historically Black / White Label Creative Space / Black Label Event Space. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
My main business is my clothing brand HistoricallyBlackApparel.com
My secondary business is my event space
www.whitelabel.space
www.blacklabel.space
My Consulting Business
www.tunedintony.biz
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I have a pretty open mind when it comes to risk-taking. I have never been scared to take risks if the idea makes sense. I am comfortable with delayed gratification for long-term success.
My whole business career has been about taking risks. There have been times when things I tried I was extremely passionate about and the ideas ended up flopping.
Never did a flop make me want to quit, it just showed me what not to do next time.
Before I take a risk, I always make sure the risk is calculated so that If I fail, I do not hit complete rock bottom. Selling t-shirts online has allowed me to have a cash-flowing business that allows me the flexibility to try new endeavors.
Pricing:
- Entrepreneurship Unlocked eBook $47
- T-Shirt Game Unlocked Course $497
- T-Shirt Game eBook + Audio Book $47
- White Label Creative Space Booking – $300 HR
- Black Label Event Space Booking – $200 HR
Contact Info:
- Email: Hello@Tunedintony.biz
- Website: www.historicallyblackapparel.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tunedintony/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/tunedintony
- Other: https://www.tunedintony.biz
