Reddit is one of the most popular websites on the internet. It’s ranked 7th in the US currently, which translates into millions of visitors each month. Reddit is entirely made up of communities, called subreddits. Each community is focused on a specific niche, interest, or topic. One of those is the r/streetwear subreddit. This is the community that 22-year-old entrepreneur Jaffry Mallari used to become incredibly successful. With one post, his brand went from zero to hero.
How He Did It
Mallari initially joined this community in order to learn how to start his streetwear brand. He learned how to design his products, ship them out, create an online shop for them, and more. After he learned everything he needed to know to have a great brand, he began posting his first few designs from his new line of apparel.
He was blown away at the reception. Most people seemed to love what he was showing off. He received well over 100 up votes, which is Reddit’s version of likes. He also received a number of comments giving him positive feedback. However, he also received a good amount of constructive and destructive criticism, as is tradition on Reddit.
Destructive criticism, meaning the kind that doesn’t have anything helpful to add (it’s more like insults hurled your way), is the kind that always seemed to dampen Mallari’s spirits. Even now, when he is wildly successful, if he looks back at those harsh words, be feels like he is reliving some of the pain from those initial stings.
Even though he was slightly demoralized, he went on and set up his own website, set a date for his first collection launch, and went to work.
July 20, 2016 – Launch Day
Mallari still remembers his launch day as if it was only yesterday. He was incredibly excited to finally reap the rewards of all the hard work he put into developing his products and brand. He still remembers being at the gym working out when suddenly getting a notification on his phone. It was his first order!
It was also his last for a while. The moment when he saw that first notification, he was ecstatic. Someone finally bought something from him after he toiled away for three months. However, as the days went on, he began feeling increasingly more demoralized due to the lack of any additional orders.
Long story short, he went back to the drawing board. Mallari changed the brand name from NGHTPRWL to RESURGENCE, created new designs, and fixed mistakes he made. He made another post on Reddit and went on with his day. After making that one post, he suddenly got 300 orders in just one hour. From that point forward, his success became cemented.
You can take a page from Mallari’s book and keep going, even when faced with rejection. All that means is that you need to become clear on what needs to be improved. You can see the RESURGENCE streetwear line here to see what finally helped Mallari become a successful solopreneur with a little bit of determination and tweaking.
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