Episode 8

Working With Different Cultures In Business

Frances Harder joins Joshua Maddux on this weeks episode of In The Bunker to talk about Working With Different Cultures In Business.

Our episode highlights:

  • US trade and commerce has really good resources.
  • SBA has good resources as well.
  • It’s all about networking! Networking will open doors!

Personal Links:

Business Links:

Bio: Fashion For Profit – Consulting - Frances Harder Founder/CEO

Frances Harder authored and published a series of books dealing with starting a fashion business. Fashion for Profit (10th edition), Costing for Profit, Brand Building for Profit and Forms for Profit are industry focused texts used both by new companies and for further education programs. www.fashionforprofit.com.

Consultant to the United Nations assisting small businesses: Peru- Alpaca products, (women owned businesses), Nepal - Cashmere products and recently assisting apparel manufacturer in Egypt enter the U.S. market (2nd contract).

She consults and speaks internationally on product development, branding, merchandising, sustainability, costing, production and entering the US market.

Serves as an industry expert in legal disputes.

Organizes and presents seminars at Sourcing at Magic trade shows-(20 years)

Presents on a variety of topics and moderates at many international trade shows both within the US and Internationally.

Adjunct professor at Cal Poly Pomona and serves on the Dean’s advisory board.

In 1999 she foundered the FBI (Fashion Business Incorporated), an educational 501c3 organization, which provided vital business development, resources, and certified job training programs to both the US. Closed in 2017 to relaunch under Fashion for Profit Consulting platform as a for profit entity in 2018.

She studied Art and Fashion in the UK. Some of her professional accomplishments include having her name under license in Japan, designing for the Royal House of Brunei and designed two lines for Priscilla Presley that where sold on Home Shopping Club. Her last teaching position was for 9 years as a full time Associate Professor at Otis College of Art and Design (9 years), Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (8 years).


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Transcript
Joshua Maddux:

Welcome back to.

Joshua Maddux:

Every business owner has faced challenges, and we love to share those stories.

Joshua Maddux:

Today.

Joshua Maddux:

We have Francis harder in the bunker with us.

Joshua Maddux:

Francis has been faced with the challenge of working with

Joshua Maddux:

different cultures in business.

Joshua Maddux:

If you've ever worked across cultures or with another business

Joshua Maddux:

in another country, you've probably experienced cultural differences.

Joshua Maddux:

These are always exciting, but can be challenging.

Joshua Maddux:

In business, she's over 30 plus years experience in

Joshua Maddux:

fashion and fashion consulting.

Joshua Maddux:

There's so much to unpack here and I'm super excited to jump in.

Joshua Maddux:

Let's welcome, Francis.

Frances Harder:

Thank you, Joshua.

Joshua Maddux:

As we jump in, let's get your sort of background.

Joshua Maddux:

Who are you?

Joshua Maddux:

How'd you get here?

Joshua Maddux:

What do you do in.

Frances Harder:

Well,

Frances Harder:

They probably take too long to really tell you the whole thing.

Frances Harder:

But basically I'm from the UK where I studied fashion design at an art college

Frances Harder:

and went into designing and also was lucky enough to be invited back to teach

Frances Harder:

at the university I graduated from.

Frances Harder:

So I've always had.

Frances Harder:

Juul teaching and designing and using my design eyes as well.

Frances Harder:

And realize that design is not enough unless you don't, unless

Frances Harder:

you understand the business side.

Frances Harder:

So I geared myself when I was teaching to Starting a class on the

Frances Harder:

business side of the fashion industry, how to start your own business.

Frances Harder:

And that led me to write my book and it also led me to start my fashion business

Frances Harder:

incorporated at the FBI and 1999.

Frances Harder:

And we were in business and we would help new startup companies as a nonprofit.

Frances Harder:

And that was another exciting experience for me running a nonprofit.

Frances Harder:

Meeting people who were willing to give a lot.

Frances Harder:

And we had an amazing 20 years and met some incredible people

Frances Harder:

and opened up doors for me.

Frances Harder:

And honestly, one of the biggest, probably the biggest pluses that

Frances Harder:

I pass on to many students and younger people is you got to network.

Frances Harder:

Networking is key.

Frances Harder:

To moving on to the next door that opens.

Frances Harder:

And so the more networking you can do the better.

Frances Harder:

So when I started the FBI, I was invited to speak at different trade shows

Frances Harder:

from that the people in the audiences like magic international is huge.

Frances Harder:

It's the biggest trade show for apparel.

Frances Harder:

And so in the audience, you don't know who's going to be there, but there were

Frances Harder:

people who invited me to go to Germany to find out what the Germans are doing

Frances Harder:

for sustainability, invited to France to see what the French were doing.

Frances Harder:

To do with protecting their brands, invited to Australia, to tore Australia,

Frances Harder:

talking about how to start the, your own business and enter the America market.

Frances Harder:

I was invited by China a few times and been over there to first of

Frances Harder:

all, as a tour from Shanghai, beat Beijing and other places to

Frances Harder:

understand the industries over there.

Frances Harder:

And then I'd been invited back a few times.

Frances Harder:

And then of course, United nations.

Frances Harder:

They contacted me and I'm working.

Frances Harder:

My first one was in parole working with the.

Frances Harder:

Making oh, they were doing their own products and it was really an interesting,

Frances Harder:

I really enjoyed that in Peru.

Frances Harder:

The people were fantastic.

Frances Harder:

And after Peru I went to into Nepal, helping them with their

Frances Harder:

cashmere products and the latest one is two contracts with Egypt.

Frances Harder:

And one of the things also that's come out of this is I've been recognized

Frances Harder:

as an expert in the industry.

Frances Harder:

So I do quite a lot of expert witness work and we've had some

Frances Harder:

very interesting cases with that.

Frances Harder:

So it's quite a challenge and quite interesting, as I always say, I used

Frances Harder:

to do a lot of sports Joshua, and even now when I'm driving home, Did we

Frances Harder:

win this one or did we lose this one?

Frances Harder:

Sometimes, it's just sometimes you lose and you have to move

Frances Harder:

on and if you win, that's good.

Frances Harder:

And maybe you go on to the next game.

Frances Harder:

Try to take it philosophically rather than getting too upset.

Joshua Maddux:

That's really good.

Joshua Maddux:

On the win lose aspect.

Joshua Maddux:

The one thing for me is even if a business deal doesn't work out or

Joshua Maddux:

whatever it is, there's still elements.

Joshua Maddux:

Even if you lose that, there's still elements that you can take home as

Joshua Maddux:

nuggets that you can learn from.

Joshua Maddux:

So although you may have not got that project or whatever, that loss looked

Joshua Maddux:

like there's still elements to learn from.

Joshua Maddux:

And I encourage the business owners all the time to, to still look at what

Joshua Maddux:

can you learn from that situation?

Joshua Maddux:

So a little bit of world travel just a tiny but some incredible stuff.

Joshua Maddux:

Working with different countries, different, all different types

Joshua Maddux:

of companies that are looking to enter the U S market.

Joshua Maddux:

And I imagine that, that has never been faced with any type of challenge.

Joshua Maddux:

Whether that's language bear here or.

Joshua Maddux:

Just time zone differences, there's so many elements there and I know, before we

Joshua Maddux:

hit record, I know one of the things that you and I were discussing was cultural

Joshua Maddux:

differences and cultural expectations a little bit what, what does that look like?

Joshua Maddux:

Obviously.

Joshua Maddux:

We want to be respectful of cultures and, different cultures work differently.

Joshua Maddux:

I know America is very big on focusing on work and your work is

Joshua Maddux:

what defines you where other countries you're defined by your family and

Joshua Maddux:

your hobbies more your work just happens to be how you make a living.

Joshua Maddux:

And I think that's something that culturally different

Joshua Maddux:

countries, value differently.

Joshua Maddux:

So not necessarily something that we're looking to disrespect in culture

Joshua Maddux:

specifically, but talk about the differences and the expectations there.

Frances Harder:

Yes.

Frances Harder:

It's not.

Frances Harder:

Yeah, it's observations that you learn really, and it's not a negative, it's

Frances Harder:

just that dealing with these different cultures is a learning experience.

Frances Harder:

It has been for me.

Frances Harder:

And I think it probably would be the same for you.

Frances Harder:

And when people have like dealing with say the Egyptians and you talk

Frances Harder:

to somebody who's in the industry and you'll pass on your experience

Frances Harder:

and they'll say exactly why.

Frances Harder:

Experience iPad.

Frances Harder:

They have also had the same experience and we, you and I were talking about before.

Frances Harder:

Experience, maybe working with the Chinese has been exactly what your

Frances Harder:

experience was like ditto of mine.

Frances Harder:

And so it's very interesting to work with different cultures.

Frances Harder:

And I lived in Germany for six years, so I got to, and I ended up marrying one.

Frances Harder:

So I learnt the German culture.

Frances Harder:

You think that the Europeans would be similar, but they're not.

Frances Harder:

So living in Germany yeah.

Frances Harder:

I loved it dearly.

Frances Harder:

And but there were definite cultural differences.

Frances Harder:

So what working with the cultural differences is interesting challenging.

Frances Harder:

And you hope that.

Frances Harder:

What are they like particularly now working with the United nations with

Frances Harder:

Egypt, I was hired as a consultant to assist them to understand how

Frances Harder:

to enter the American market.

Frances Harder:

What do they need to do?

Frances Harder:

How do they prepare it?

Frances Harder:

Everything from the websites or that, that is, this is who you are at.

Frances Harder:

With a website.

Frances Harder:

So what is the first person going to do when they're looking at your company,

Frances Harder:

they're going to go to your website.

Frances Harder:

So when you're dealing with say Egypt, it's very male dominated.

Frances Harder:

And so you open up the website, you've got a big, strong building up there, right?

Frances Harder:

What can you scroll down?

Frances Harder:

That's a row of men in suits and a tie.

Frances Harder:

And so you say, what are they selling here?

Frances Harder:

They're selling women's clothing.

Frances Harder:

Isn't that interesting?

Frances Harder:

You know how we said to them, you need to change this website.

Frances Harder:

People need to know, identify immediately what it is you're doing, and you

Frances Harder:

need to change that out regularly.

Frances Harder:

So they want to go back, these are the things and same thing

Frances Harder:

in Nepal that was rather a male.

Frances Harder:

Working with the Kashmir producers and they have a big issue because

Frances Harder:

the west changed pashmina is the highest quality cashmere you can get.

Frances Harder:

And so it got he got messed up by the Americans or the west.

Frances Harder:

And suddenly I don't years ago, you're probably too young, but it was like 20

Frances Harder:

years ago, there were selling pashmina is on the corner and they were really Rae on,

Frances Harder:

for $10 and it's destroyed their brand.

Frances Harder:

So they ha we had to rebrand pashmina Kashmir.

Frances Harder:

And one of the scientists came up with planting DNA.

Frances Harder:

Fibers of the goat.

Frances Harder:

And so that when it was spun and then knitted or woven into something that DNA

Frances Harder:

was there all the way through the washing.

Frances Harder:

So it was an amazing way of this is pure pashmina cashmere,

Joshua Maddux:

essentially more or less like a serial number

Joshua Maddux:

on a car VIN number on a card.

Frances Harder:

Yeah, that was pretty neat.

Frances Harder:

And then with the Peru the Peruvians, they were losing a lot of sustainability.

Frances Harder:

I was very impressed with that.

Frances Harder:

I'm not sure if you've been there, we went to Lima and then Arab speaker, fantastic.

Frances Harder:

The people were absolutely beautiful.

Frances Harder:

I want to go back and then went up too late to, to khaki, which is like

Frances Harder:

14,000 square feet, 20, sorry, 14,000 feet high and giving a lecture.

Frances Harder:

To a group of women, men who were doing their alpaca.

Frances Harder:

And so they were sitting there with translators on I'm giving us a lecture and

Frances Harder:

I'm just looking around, I'm going to me.

Frances Harder:

It was like I'm on 40,000 feet high and from bloody

Frances Harder:

Manchester, how did I get here?

Frances Harder:

So that was an out of body experience, but a great experience, all the same.

Joshua Maddux:

That's crazy.

Joshua Maddux:

I know.

Joshua Maddux:

We were discussing the aspect of sort of the American lifestyle, the American work

Joshua Maddux:

ethic and looking at, other countries.

Joshua Maddux:

I know my brother spent some time in Jordan on a trip there and on the

Joshua Maddux:

drive from the airport to where they were staying his friend's girlfriend

Joshua Maddux:

or fiance or whoever was He said he felt like he was in terrible.

Joshua Maddux:

He's like I've first time I've ever met this person.

Joshua Maddux:

And she's oh, so like, you know, your family, blah, blah, blah,

Joshua Maddux:

like wanted nothing to do with, oh, what do you do for a job?

Joshua Maddux:

Didn't care about that.

Joshua Maddux:

But like all these different details, they'd go sit in a coffee shop.

Joshua Maddux:

And some guy walks up and sits down at their table and they just start

Joshua Maddux:

chatting and an hour and a half goes by and the guy gets up and leaves.

Joshua Maddux:

And my brother's oh do you guys know him from here, do you know from

Joshua Maddux:

there, do you know him from work?

Joshua Maddux:

And they're like, no, we've never met the guy before and it's they

Joshua Maddux:

have this in-depth hour and a half long conversation, but that's how the

Joshua Maddux:

culture in Jordan and other countries, that's how the culture is where.

Joshua Maddux:

In the U S were, I think part of it is we're short, we're guarded a little bit.

Joshua Maddux:

And there's also this status symbol a little bit as well, and

Joshua Maddux:

it's hard for businesses who may.

Joshua Maddux:

I don't understand that don't experience that to transition, to understanding

Joshua Maddux:

what the American culture is when they're entering the market here in the U S I know

Joshua Maddux:

I had a professor who in college, he said that he had traveled and he taught at a

Joshua Maddux:

few other schools and around the world.

Joshua Maddux:

And he said there was one college he showed up to and his class started.

Joshua Maddux:

2:00 PM.

Joshua Maddux:

So he showed up there at 1 45 to, set up and two o'clock comes around 2 15,

Joshua Maddux:

2 30, and the first student walks in the door and he's you are a half-hour.

Joshua Maddux:

And they're like, oh yeah, no you have two classes a day here.

Joshua Maddux:

You have a morning class and an afternoon class.

Joshua Maddux:

And typically the afternoon class starts anywhere from a half hour to an hour.

Joshua Maddux:

After what it says on the schedule, where was this?

Joshua Maddux:

It was an, I cannot remember what country it was.

Joshua Maddux:

But it was another country.

Joshua Maddux:

And he was just like, what on earth?

Joshua Maddux:

And they're like, that's just how the culture is.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's anything is taken with a grain of salt when it comes to timing.

Joshua Maddux:

Time is a rough suggestion of it starts at two.

Joshua Maddux:

Which is just it's crazy.

Frances Harder:

We used to lock the door when I was teaching her OTAs.

Frances Harder:

If you were late 10 minutes, we'd lock the door or we feed them as well.

Frances Harder:

If you were late, you had three lanes.

Frances Harder:

Three tardies is equals actually a fail you years ago when I was teaching that

Frances Harder:

you had three lates, you got failed.

Frances Harder:

Very strict on time in America.

Frances Harder:

I agree.

Frances Harder:

And I think England is the same or Europe as well.

Joshua Maddux:

And I look at that from an employer's perspective.

Joshua Maddux:

Employers in the U S if you had an employee show, Anywhere from 15 minutes

Joshua Maddux:

to an hour, late on a regular basis.

Joshua Maddux:

And so someone who maybe is coming from a different culture, like

Joshua Maddux:

understanding that is a huge element, understanding how important it is

Joshua Maddux:

to be on time to be, a part of that.

Frances Harder:

Yeah.

Frances Harder:

I think one of the, another example is say working with Italy, right?

Frances Harder:

Love, Italy, love the food, love the people love going there.

Frances Harder:

But they never ship on time.

Frances Harder:

So we always say, if you're buying from Italy, allow yourself a window of

Frances Harder:

time because they're always shipping.

Frances Harder:

And so which in this industry it's really frustrating.

Frances Harder:

And I remember talking to an Italian friend of mine, I was saying, the

Frances Harder:

Americans, as I said to you earlier on, what you do in the American

Frances Harder:

businesses, you do what you say, you're going to do one sentence.

Frances Harder:

That's all it is.

Frances Harder:

And if you don't, you need to be transparent and let people,

Frances Harder:

some of obviously things happen.

Frances Harder:

So maybe the silt from Italy couldn't get through to you in

Frances Harder:

time because they had an issue.

Frances Harder:

You got to let them know.

Frances Harder:

And I was talking to the Solando and he said, yeah, but when will, we always

Frances Harder:

ship late and it's okay, we do know you should late, but then they're

Frances Harder:

losing huge amounts of business by just constantly not performing on time.

Frances Harder:

Because as in America, if you're going to ship in this

Frances Harder:

window, you have to get it in.

Frances Harder:

Then otherwise you're going to cancel orders.

Joshua Maddux:

One, especially with the.

Joshua Maddux:

The element and the rise of just in time delivery.

Joshua Maddux:

I look at how many right now is a great example.

Joshua Maddux:

We're where the end of 2020 and our port in Los Angeles has 50 plus ships

Joshua Maddux:

sitting, waiting we're backed up and stores are late on deliveries.

Joshua Maddux:

And so just in time delivery is a great concept when every piece of the

Joshua Maddux:

puzzle works flawlessly, but heaven forbid you get a backup of a port.

Joshua Maddux:

You get, whether that causes issues, you get a shipping delay

Joshua Maddux:

for whatever reason that is.

Joshua Maddux:

And sometimes that doesn't need to be some catastrophic 30 day delay.

Joshua Maddux:

Sometimes that can be 72 hours that, 72 hour delay can be a huge difference in

Joshua Maddux:

whether a product is going to get sold.

Joshua Maddux:

At the right time or not, you drop a Christmas decor on December 30th.

Joshua Maddux:

Now it's on the clearance.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah, I

Frances Harder:

know with I lived near the port and I saw it yesterday.

Frances Harder:

There were 1880 container boats outside, out waiting to get in and

Frances Harder:

the traffic just getting in and out, it was just, and there were trucks

Frances Harder:

from Maine trucks, from Tennessee trucks when you see them on the road,

Frances Harder:

trying to get on the road and get out.

Frances Harder:

And this is a, this is an interesting topic because.

Frances Harder:

What everybody in our industry and probably other industries too, is the

Frances Harder:

we're looking for domestic manufacturing.

Frances Harder:

We're trying to bring it back, not only for the sustainable access,

Frances Harder:

because it's going to be sustainable.

Frances Harder:

You're saving all that fuel.

Frances Harder:

But you're also, as you say, on demand, we're looking for on demand fast or

Frances Harder:

whether you go near shoring, which is Mexico and south of the border, where.

Frances Harder:

Chuck the goods in.

Frances Harder:

So there is a huge change, but unfortunately, and this is something that

Frances Harder:

the U S needs to address which Biden is where the infrastructure money is that

Frances Harder:

we've not invested in our infrastructure.

Frances Harder:

So you got your one time, the fashion industry in LA was the largest industry.

Frances Harder:

Within with the clothing industry within America, very vibrant, huge,

Frances Harder:

you've got old buildings downtown, Joshua, you can't even get a truck

Frances Harder:

down the alley in the back old elevators, wouldn't floss, a Creek.

Frances Harder:

You could see the floors below.

Frances Harder:

We have to, if we want to bring domestic manufacturing back in all fields, we

Frances Harder:

have to invest in, in our own infrastru.

Frances Harder:

Think about you can't even get a train to, from here to Vegas, you could

Frances Harder:

get fast trains from London to Paris, why can't we get more efficient?

Frances Harder:

I know we're criticizing our foreign partners, but in, in a way, a lot of our

Frances Harder:

issues need to be addressed domestically.

Frances Harder:

We need to start investing in our own infrastructure.

Joshua Maddux:

One.

Joshua Maddux:

It's funny to me, how we talk about.

Joshua Maddux:

Oh, XYZ culture is a little bit more laxed and they're a little bit more flexible

Joshua Maddux:

on timeframes, but that's the culture that figured out public transportation.

Joshua Maddux:

They figured out, infrastructure, they figured out all this stuff.

Joshua Maddux:

And then we're over here saying deadlines, but we can't figure it out.

Joshua Maddux:

I live.

Joshua Maddux:

In an area where every time the wind blows the wrong direction, more than 30

Joshua Maddux:

miles an hour, they shut my power off.

Joshua Maddux:

I got a notice last night from Edison saying, happy Thanksgiving, we might

Joshua Maddux:

shut your power off type thing.

Joshua Maddux:

It's crazy.

Joshua Maddux:

And

Frances Harder:

so this is the over, these are the Overland power lines.

Frances Harder:

Nobody in Europe has Overland power lines.

Frances Harder:

They're all under.

Frances Harder:

Yeah we haven't got to that.

Frances Harder:

So where you're, threatened by fires constantly.

Frances Harder:

Yeah,

Joshua Maddux:

it's crazy.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah, it is.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's one of those elements where we'll figure it out eventually, we'll get there.

Joshua Maddux:

And I think the element that you're talking about the shore or about, bringing

Joshua Maddux:

manufacturing back to the U S I think that's very interesting and I think.

Joshua Maddux:

I also look at it from there's a company that's developing what

Joshua Maddux:

they're calling micro farms.

Joshua Maddux:

And so they're using shipping containers.

Joshua Maddux:

They're using a 40 foot shipping container and they're putting grow lights in it and

Joshua Maddux:

they can grow a rugala and lettuce and spinach and radishes and all this stuff.

Joshua Maddux:

Radishes need eight inches to grow.

Joshua Maddux:

That's it.

Joshua Maddux:

And then they can have a grow light.

Joshua Maddux:

If you put them out in the middle of a farm, All they're

Joshua Maddux:

using is eight inches of space.

Joshua Maddux:

But if you stack them vertically inside of a shipping container, a 40

Joshua Maddux:

foot shipping container, it can be the equivalent of a one acre farm.

Joshua Maddux:

And so how can they, yup.

Joshua Maddux:

So they put grow lights and stuff in 'em and stuff.

Joshua Maddux:

Basically the same with the, marijuana farms that are using indoors.

Joshua Maddux:

And so there's restaurants now that have realized that it's actually

Joshua Maddux:

not asleep cheaper, but more.

Joshua Maddux:

Economical from an aspect of not having to go figure out where they're getting

Joshua Maddux:

the widest from today, they can actually drop a 40 foot shipping container in

Joshua Maddux:

their parking lot and then grow all their own, produce out their back door.

Joshua Maddux:

And so they need you.

Joshua Maddux:

So literally they'll the salad that's sitting on your plate at dinner was picked

Joshua Maddux:

two hours ago, which is so much fresher.

Joshua Maddux:

It's not having to travel.

Joshua Maddux:

Daisy trucks raid all that mess.

Joshua Maddux:

And there's elements like that with, not only consumable products in, in food

Joshua Maddux:

industry, but there's also, fashion.

Joshua Maddux:

There's so much elements with that.

Joshua Maddux:

If you're not trucking it halfway across the world, like you said, it's

Joshua Maddux:

a lot less fuel and stuff that's using.

Joshua Maddux:

I know there's a lot of ground that we've covered with today's conversation.

Joshua Maddux:

And what would be your advice to someone who is facing a similar

Joshua Maddux:

challenge of really working with different cultures and business?

Frances Harder:

I'd say, do a little research and also do test orders

Frances Harder:

with people and see how it works.

Frances Harder:

But there again, if you're trying to come to some agreement with an offshore

Frances Harder:

company I, of course the Americans are very, we're all, we have pieces of people

Frances Harder:

with contracts and you have to sign this.

Frances Harder:

And I was working actually years ago.

Frances Harder:

What was it?

Frances Harder:

I had a Japanese company contact me when I was teaching to ask if I do a line

Frances Harder:

of clothing for their Japanese brand.

Frances Harder:

So I was designing under my name for them.

Frances Harder:

Living here, I thought we need a contract.

Frances Harder:

So I get my contract together and I gave it to the Japanese contacts I was working

Frances Harder:

with and he read through it and looked at it and nodded, and he just shook my hand.

Frances Harder:

He never signed.

Frances Harder:

But honestly, Joshua, I never had a problem.

Frances Harder:

They paid me every month on a retainer, never any issue.

Frances Harder:

And but when the yen went down the toilet, things crumbled a little bit,

Frances Harder:

but working with them was just such smooth sailing, no issues at all now.

Frances Harder:

Which, Talking about working with say China.

Frances Harder:

They I've been talking to university over there for the last two years.

Frances Harder:

They want to use my book and me to teach it in modules

Frances Harder:

and I've come up with a plan.

Frances Harder:

I've shown the plan.

Frances Harder:

I was wherever he goes, oh, you got to protect your business.

Frances Harder:

And so your IP.

Frances Harder:

So I spent nearly $10,000 on registering it in China and getting it.

Frances Harder:

Legal, so nobody can knock it off.

Frances Harder:

And this conversations will come, every three months I get another

Frances Harder:

email and I've just come to the point where I just can't do anymore.

Frances Harder:

This, I've lost interest because it seems to be I'm spinning

Frances Harder:

wheels and it's not going anyway.

Frances Harder:

So whether anything will come of it, I don't know.

Frances Harder:

But Joshua you've had some experiences too, right.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah, we have, we had our talking, you and I were talking about

Joshua Maddux:

before, there was a company who approached us for a fairly high end product in

Joshua Maddux:

China and it was a similar element.

Joshua Maddux:

It was handfuls of conversations.

Joshua Maddux:

And I think sometimes, and this isn't necessarily even a culture thing.

Joshua Maddux:

I think there's some times where businesses come up with amazing

Joshua Maddux:

ideas and they can see that.

Joshua Maddux:

The end outcome.

Joshua Maddux:

They can see that this product makes them $20 million a year, but they realize

Joshua Maddux:

that getting from point a to point Z is going to take a lot of work and they are

Joshua Maddux:

almost looking for someone to come in and take on a little bit more of that.

Joshua Maddux:

And that's fine if they're providing.

Joshua Maddux:

Maybe a revenue share but sometimes just relying on a contractor to, to come in and

Joshua Maddux:

just take over everything is a little hard

Frances Harder:

since she didn't have any money coming in

Joshua Maddux:

from it.

Joshua Maddux:

No.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah, exactly.

Joshua Maddux:

And the other thing you mentioned with contracts, across different countries,

Joshua Maddux:

contracts, But the biggest thing you want to think about is what is

Joshua Maddux:

the cost to enforce said, contract.

Joshua Maddux:

If you have a contract with a company overseas in another country, you

Joshua Maddux:

need an attorney who understands that country's laws and who can navigate

Joshua Maddux:

the legal system, both here and there.

Joshua Maddux:

And.

Joshua Maddux:

If your contract value is less than what it's going to cost to have your attorney

Joshua Maddux:

fly there and spend a week or so then you there's no real, almost, not even

Joshua Maddux:

a reason to have a contract other than just a here's the understanding sort

Joshua Maddux:

of a letter of understanding more just.

Joshua Maddux:

And make sure everybody's on the same page of this is the expectations.

Joshua Maddux:

And that's really where I would say, one of you want to think of.

Frances Harder:

Yeah.

Frances Harder:

One, one thing I have found though, that is within American system

Frances Harder:

is the U S trade and commerce.

Frances Harder:

They have some really great services to help any American company who's

Frances Harder:

thinking of going internationally.

Frances Harder:

I, I.

Frances Harder:

Part of the international group from the U S trade and commerce,

Frances Harder:

and now I'm connected to them.

Frances Harder:

I know that they have some really good anybody thinking about going abroad either

Frances Harder:

to manufacture or to sell, definitely get in touch with the U S trade and commerce.

Frances Harder:

They have some really good help.

Frances Harder:

And they, of course they know who to contact in these particular countries

Frances Harder:

who can help you in each country.

Frances Harder:

The American embassy is there and they can certainly give you some least

Frances Harder:

some advice as to how to handle it.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

There's a lot of different resources out there.

Joshua Maddux:

Whether it's something like us trade and commerce or, the

Joshua Maddux:

SBA has some great resources.

Joshua Maddux:

Know, there's maybe it's there may be a paid resource through

Joshua Maddux:

the SBA, but they may be able to point you in the right direction.

Joshua Maddux:

And in reality, paying someone who has gone through this a hundred

Joshua Maddux:

times before, for an hour of their time, just Hey, what are the big

Joshua Maddux:

hiccups and issues that I can expect?

Joshua Maddux:

Elements like you just talked about with, oh, if you deal with.

Joshua Maddux:

This culture or this country, they typically are always late on shipping.

Joshua Maddux:

And so great.

Joshua Maddux:

If we're expecting it to be here on February 1st, then maybe we

Joshua Maddux:

should make sure we tell them two weeks earlier, extending and

Joshua Maddux:

just pad the time accordingly.

Joshua Maddux:

And always build in those little, extra margins as needed.

Joshua Maddux:

And I know so many businesses saw that there's a company that I've been

Joshua Maddux:

following that makes up, makes a product.

Joshua Maddux:

And they had finally gotten all their manufacturing stuff lined up right

Joshua Maddux:

before COVID hit and then COVID hit.

Joshua Maddux:

And now they've gone back to the manufacturer and the manufacturers

Joshua Maddux:

said, there's no way we can make your product for what we quoted you before.

Joshua Maddux:

It's going to be.

Joshua Maddux:

30% more.

Joshua Maddux:

And so they have all these pre-orders for product that now

Joshua Maddux:

they're going to be losing money on.

Joshua Maddux:

And so they're like, we either need to cancel the pre-orders or sorry,

Joshua Maddux:

guys, we gotta charge you extra.

Joshua Maddux:

And so they're like, that's your option and it's hard, there's

Joshua Maddux:

always unexpected elements.

Joshua Maddux:

And, as business owners, the biggest thing that you can do is connect with

Joshua Maddux:

other business owners and strategize, seek counseling, or seek someone who

Joshua Maddux:

maybe has been there before or been a step ahead of you and learn from.

Frances Harder:

That's what you've said about with the SBA.

Frances Harder:

I know when I was teaching when we had the fashion business incorporated, we

Frances Harder:

had lots of classes and we did a lot of shelf short-term certified training.

Frances Harder:

And we had consultants who were also consultants for the SBA.

Frances Harder:

So as you say, you can get a lot of free information from SBA and you can hire a

Frances Harder:

consultant who, you know, not for a lot, who's from the industry to help you.

Frances Harder:

So even if.

Frances Harder:

Assisting you with your business plan and things like that, so that you can get a

Frances Harder:

lot of good help from them, kudos to them.

Frances Harder:

There really are good.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

There's a lot of good stuff there.

Joshua Maddux:

Awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

Is there any sort of nuggets of advice to leave us with as we wrap up our time,

Frances Harder:

I only bought, I always say to students is

Frances Harder:

It's all about networking.

Frances Harder:

Really, my journey has been about how I got here, going

Frances Harder:

to Germany, how I got here.

Frances Harder:

And what I've done here is been about just different doors opening.

Frances Harder:

And get out there, work hard and doors will open for you.

Frances Harder:

If you're starting your own business, particularly in the apparel

Frances Harder:

industry, it's a good time to start.

Frances Harder:

It's surprising.

Frances Harder:

And it early enough, because as you talked about on demand,

Frances Harder:

you can do smaller quantities.

Frances Harder:

The big companies are looking for thousands of orders, thousands of units.

Frances Harder:

The other sad issue is I know a factory downtown who can't find

Frances Harder:

SOAs and it's the same, knowing if find workers in the restaurant.

Frances Harder:

So he can't find chef SOAs and.

Frances Harder:

talking quite a lot of talk about retraining, certifying even if it's

Frances Harder:

refugees coming in, give them short-term training and get them to sell a bit, SOAs

Frances Harder:

and then give them an upward mobility.

Frances Harder:

I don't think you need to go to a two year four year college.

Frances Harder:

You can learn on the job a little bit like apprenticeship.

Frances Harder:

So there's a lot of good changes and I think it's it's a good

Frances Harder:

time to start a business.

Joshua Maddux:

I like the aspect of, networking role, open doors.

Joshua Maddux:

I totally agree.

Joshua Maddux:

Networking is always a great way to connect with businesses and business

Joshua Maddux:

owners and other people in your industry.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah, and being creative while hiring that's a whole nother topic in itself.

Joshua Maddux:

But creativity right now is a huge thing.

Joshua Maddux:

Creativity business is always a huge thing.

Joshua Maddux:

I appreciate you coming on and your time today we will have in the show

Joshua Maddux:

notes we'll have your LinkedIn, your Twitter, your Amazon author page

Joshua Maddux:

your website, fashion for profit.com and then the business information,

Joshua Maddux:

Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, all that stuff along with your bio that's like.

Joshua Maddux:

Eight or nine links in total.

Joshua Maddux:

But where is the number one spot?

Joshua Maddux:

If someone wants to reach out and connect with you, what's the number

Joshua Maddux:

one spot for them to do that?

Frances Harder:

LinkedIn's pretty good.

Frances Harder:

I have a good connection on LinkedIn.

Frances Harder:

So if anybody wants to connect with me, they can go to LinkedIn.

Frances Harder:

That's probably the best or through my website either way.

Joshua Maddux:

Awesome.

Frances Harder:

Thank you, Joshua for giving me the opportunity.

Joshua Maddux:

Appreciate you having you on the show today.

Joshua Maddux:

Thank you.

Frances Harder:

Okay.

Frances Harder:

See you again.

Joshua Maddux:

Thanks for listening to this episode of, in the bunker.

Joshua Maddux:

As always we can be found on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter

Joshua Maddux:

at, in the bunker podcast.

Joshua Maddux:

Be sure to share this episode and what you're going to apply from it.

Joshua Maddux:

And how that can affect your business, make sure to tag us in that post so

Joshua Maddux:

we can highlight your journey as well.

Joshua Maddux:

But before you go.

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About the Podcast

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In The Bunker
Exploring the biggest challenges in starting and running a business.

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About your host

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Joshua Maddux

Joshua Maddux is an entrepreneur who has helped numerous businesses grow and thrive.