Merchandise - You Never Know Who You’ll Meet

I’ve always found that some of the best things that have happened with Kaya Watch Co. have come from situations I never planned for.

The idea for merchandise is a perfect example.

It didn’t come from a marketing meeting, a business course, or some carefully thought-out strategy.

It came from a regular morning of playing golf.

I was out playing at a local golf course in Manchester with a friend when we noticed a celebrity playing a hole ahead of us. I obviously recognised him, but I won’t say who it was out of respect for his privacy. He was playing with a few friends of his and, as tends to happen when you’re playing with less people than the group in front of you, we slowly started catching them up.

Eventually, we ended up at the same tee box and got chatting.

It was a completely normal conversation. There was no real reason for it to turn into anything more than that. We were just talking between shots.

At some point, he asked me what I did.

I told him about Kaya Watch Co. and explained that I owned my own watch brand. I spoke about what I'd been working on, the watches, and how I was trying to build something independently from the ground up.

He then looked at what I was wearing.

I had on on of those old GANT caps and a polo shirt.

He pointed at them and said something along the lines of:

"If I were you, I'd put your own logo on your cap and your top."

Then he pointed at his own cap, which had his business logo on it.

His point was simple, but it immediately made sense to me.

Why wear somebody else's logo when you've got your own business?

Everywhere you go, people are seeing it.

You don't have to approach them.

You don't have to tell them what you do.

You don't even have to realise they're looking at it.

It's essentially free advertising.

I remember thinking it was a brilliant idea.

It was such an obvious thing when he said it, yet somehow I'd never really thought about it that way.

The Beginning of the Merchandise

Until then, I'd never really considered making Kaya Watch Co. clothing.

My head had always been focused on the watches.

Everything that goes into actually making the watches and building the brand around them.

But after that conversation, I started thinking about how the brand could exist outside of the watch itself.

If I'm building a watch company, why should the only thing carrying the Kaya Watch Co. name be the watch?

At first i initially only wanted the merchandise for me to wear, thinking of the various places to wear them, watch shows, playing golf of course, casual occasions wearing something to again spark one of those conversations.

I wanted to make caps, polos and clothing that I would happily wear even if nobody knew anything about Kaya Watch Co.

The logo should be enough.

It should feel like a brand rather than simply merchandise.

And that's really where the idea started.

From one conversation on a golf course.

I have returned to the course a few times since them but i haven't seen him again yet...

The Conversations You Don't Expect

The funny thing is, when I look back at the journey so far, this isn't the first time something valuable has come from a completely unexpected conversation.

One of the biggest things I've learned from starting a business at a relatively young age is just how much you can learn from other people.

And I don't necessarily mean people in watches.

In fact, some of the most interesting conversations I've had have been with people who have absolutely nothing to do with the watch industry.

Different businesses.

Different careers.

Different backgrounds.

Different experiences.

But there is always something you can take from somebody who has spent years doing something that you haven't.

Maybe it's the way they think about customers.

Maybe it's how they built their reputation.

Maybe it's something they've learned from getting something badly wrong.

Maybe it's simply the way they approach people.

You never really know.

And that's what I find so interesting about business.

There isn't one industry where everyone has figured everything out.

A lesson that works in one industry can completely change how you approach your own.

 

I've Learned More From People Than Courses

I've done the courses.

I've watched the videos.

I've read the books.

I've listened to podcasts and followed people who are far more experienced in business than I am.

And I think all of that has value.

But, honestly, I've probably learned more from actually talking to people than I have from any business-focused course I've done.

There's something different about speaking to someone who has actually lived through what they're talking about.

A course can tell you what you should do.

A person can tell you what actually happened when they tried it.

They can tell you what worked.

What didn't.

What they got completely wrong.

What they wish they'd known ten years earlier.

And those are the conversations I remember.

They're also the conversations that tend to stay with you.

Sometimes someone can say something in five minutes that you'll think about for the next five years.

The conversation that gave me the idea for Kaya Watch Co. merchandise lasted a few minutes.

But it completely changed the way I looked at something I'd never really considered before.

Put Yourself Around Good People

I've started to realise that one of the best things you can do for yourself, especially when you're building something from scratch, is simply put yourself in the right places.

You don't necessarily need to go somewhere with the intention of networking.

You don't need to walk into a room thinking about who you can meet or what someone can do for you.

Just be around people.

Go to places where interesting people are.

Play golf.

Go to events.

Speak to business owners.

Go to dinners.

Visit trade shows.

Talk to people in industries completely unrelated to yours.

And actually listen to them.

I've found that people are generally much more willing to have a conversation than you might expect.

You just have to be confident enough to start one.

Confidence Is Something You Build

I don't think I would have had the confidence to do that a few years ago.

Walking up to someone you don't know and starting a conversation can feel awkward.

You don't know whether they're going to be interested in speaking to you.

You don't know whether you'll have anything in common.

You don't know where the conversation is going to go.

But I've realised that the worst thing that can happen is usually just that you have a five-minute conversation and then go your separate ways.

And that's not exactly a disaster.

The upside, however, can be enormous.

You might meet someone who teaches you something.

You might make a connection that lasts years.

You might hear an idea that completely changes the way you think about your business.

Or, in my case, you might end up creating an entire line of merchandise because someone noticed you were wearing the wrong logo.

You Never Know

That's probably the biggest lesson I've taken from the whole thing.

You never know where something is going to come from.

When I think about the future of Kaya Watch Co., I have so many ideas and plans.

There are watches I want to make.

Ideas I want to explore.

Things I want to improve.

There are plenty of things I'm working towards.

But I've also learned not to become so focused on the plan that I forget to pay attention to what's happening around me.

Because some of the best opportunities aren't planned.

They're conversations.

They're introductions.

They're chance meetings.

They're the person you happen to sit next to.

They're the stranger who gives you a piece of advice without realising how much you'll think about it afterwards.

The merchandise for Kaya Watch Co. started with a simple comment on a golf course in Manchester.

I was wearing someone else's logo.

Someone pointed it out.

And now, when I put on a Kaya Watch Co. cap or polo, I think back to that conversation.

It's a small thing, but it's another example of how this company has been built.

One idea at a time.

One conversation at a time.

One unexpected lesson at a time.

And if there's one thing I'd tell myself now that I wish I'd understood earlier, it's this:

Put yourself in the right places. Be confident enough to start a conversation. And always be willing to learn from the person standing next to you.

You genuinely never know where it might lead.