#45: How to Grow Your Business with Zack Hurley, Indie Source
No matter where you’re at on your entrepreneurial journey, you’re likely thinking about business growth. Maybe for you, growth looks like starting on your first business plan, or perhaps it’s hitting a new revenue goal. Zack Hurley, founder of Indie Source, continues hitting milestones and is dropping all kinds of knowledge on how to grow your business.
Zack grew his company from $788,000 to $2.3 million in just two years, and is on track to reach $5 million this year — all while maintaining a bootstrapped approach.
Indie Source is an apparel manufacturing company that has tackled the outdated apparel industry and turned it on its head by offering entrepreneurs a way to get access to the insiders. Zack, along with co-founder Jesse Dombrowiak, started the firm to help designers get access to apparel supply chains, which is a HUGELY monolithic industry. Indie Source made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2018 and is still kicking butt today. Indie Source has worked with more than 500 entrepreneurs and brands to make apparel dreams come true.
Zack and Indie Source have worked with tons of celebrities, from Khloe Kardashian to NBA player Kareem Rush. He’s appeared on an episode of The Real Housewives of OC and was even asked to have his own reality show. Through it all, he’s helped navigate his business through the ups and downs, especially this past year.
Despite his impressive resume, Zack is constantly looking at how to grow business even further. He’s sharing tons of useful tips in this episode, including how to work with brands to make their vision happen, the importance of digital advertising, and an incredibly helpful acronym that any entrepreneur wondering how to build a business needs to know.
Zack’s newborn baby boy also makes a few appearances in the background of this episode. Everyone’s having a great time chatting growing a business!
Highlights of our conversation include:
Why there isn’t one specific “a-ha moment” with a lot of businesses, and how Indie Source was born out of asking why certain things are the way they are. (2:52)
A look at how outdated the supply chain world is and how the system is incredibly low-tech. (5:25)
How Indie Source works with manufacturers and vendors across the world to help brands bring their vision to life. (7:49)
A story involving Lil’ Wayne and product being thrown over a fence. (10:59)
Why you need to find out where your audience is at in the early stages of your business. Zack also shares why social media is a great tool for discovering your audience, but why you need to be platform agonistic to succeed. (12:16)
The top things to focus on as you’re figuring out how to grow a business — Zack has broken this down through an awesome acronym: REDMAN. (17:18)
What it’s like to live on a boat, which Zack was doing when he first started his business. (25:00)
A look inside how the Indie Source team pivoted to creating face masks during the coronavirus pandemic. (26:12)
Zack’s top three quarantine hobbies. (30:07)
What’s next for Zack Hurley?
Want to learn some cool ways to bring your brand to life? Get in touch with Zack over on the Indie Source website, or follow the company on Instagram.
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