Mavericks Laces co-founder Luke Schoknecht shares exactly how to turn an idea in to a business. Graphic designer by day, Luke and his business brand consultant partner decided they needed a product of their own which would allow them to walk their talk (excuse the pun!) … so Mavericks Laces was born.
As Luke says: “We all loved shoes and were spending far too much money on good kicks so we wanted to do something about that. We thought shoelaces were a cheap entry product but we wanted to do something different – so coloured shoelaces was born. We got some samples made and started wearing them. Then three things happened:
- We couldn’t believe how many comments people made about them and asked where they could get some, they loved the colours
- The coloured laces made our shoes look different every time we wore a different colour – they transformed our shoes – no more money on new shoes
- We felt like renegades, when we walked out the front door in the morning wearing our coloured laces we felt like a lone wolf and totally individual
This is a wonderful story of entrepreneurism, about having a crack when those around you think you’re crazy and about how to turn the seed of an idea in to a successful business.
Plus I share 10 business learnings from a recent speakers retreat I attended. It was absolutely amazing.
Let’s get stuck right into episode 219 of Australia’s #1 marketing show. Go!
Episode Timeline
- 0:28 Summary of what we’ll cover in this episode
- 2:24 A quick whinge about the size of confectionary these days
- 4:57 5 (of 10) business insights I learnt at a recent speakers retreat I attended
- 13:40 Mavericks Laces founder Luke Schoknecht introduction
- 16:30 Luke shares his favourite pumps
- 17:55 Colour anxiety is real!
- 18:30 Mavericks Laces website is incredibly helpful
- 20:05 Luke’s made something out of nothing – it’s all about an emotional connection
- 20:50 Soft porn for marketers
- 22:50 Where the idea for Mavericks Laces came from
- 26:00 When people don’t like your idea
- 26:56 Elevating a functional object in to a desirable fashion accessory
- 28:00 Coming up with a pricing strategy
- 30:40 The power of offering one product
- 35:15 Mavericks Laces marketing expenditure
- 36:45 How Mavericks laces got in to Country Road
- 38:19 What to do when people copy your business idea
- 41:29 Examples of going that extra one percent
- 47:54 Top 5 learnings from my chat with Luke
- 49:55 5 more business insights I learnt at a recent speakers retreat I attended
- 53:58 Motivational marketing quote of the week – from Henry Ford!
Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode
- Netregistry: Get your online marketing sorted!
- Mavericks Laces – The official website
- Hit up Luke Schoknecht on Twitter and tell him you heard him on The Small Business Big Marketing Show
- Join the The Small Business Big Marketing Forum now
- Crank My Marketing
Tweetables
My Top 5 Learnings
This week’s top 5 learnings from my chat with Mavericks Laces Luke Schoknecht:
- Continue to build emotion in to all your marketing touch points.
- Stop worrying about your competitors. Turn that energy in to telling your story in an even better way.
- There is no business in the world that can’t be interesting. Listen up accountants!
- Have a helpful website – one that solves problems for your customers.
- Put social media buttons in the footer of your website.
Over to you!
Let me know YOUR #1 takeaway from this episode by leaving a comment below.
My guest and myself personally read and respond to every comment.ives a ccrap,
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18 thoughts on “221 – How to turn an idea in to a business with Mavericks Laces Luke Schoknecht”
Loved this podcast! So many similarities with my own GripSox start-up (eg. time constraints, competitors, expansion, emotion etc.) I love Luke’s passion and determination to succeed (must be the name!) All the best with your product and business in the future. BTW Timbo, how about a socks podcast to keep the feet theme going! Keep up the good work.
Love your work, Luke. Has anyone ever told you to pull up your socks? Let me know when you make your first million and we’ll have a chat ;0)
Thanks for the kind words Luke and all the best with GripSox mate.
Already made the first million dollars in sales….it’s the next few million I’m working on! Selling a million pairs of GripSox is my next mission! Happy to chat any time.
Thanks mate. Hope we can chat again soon.
Love learning number 3 – There is no business in the world that cant be interesting – Listen up accountants. As an accountant I will look at ways of making my accounting business interesting – any ideas?
Great interview Luke. I am in the early stages of coming up with an offshoot from my accounting business. Listening to the interview has given me a renewed enthusiasm to use my “spare time” to get this idea off the ground.
I think you might have been being a little cheeky there TImbo and so I’m quite amused by Luke Goodwin’s response!
Having just had a little look at Luke’s “you are who Google says you are” profile – his story looks quite interesting. I, for one, would be interested in hearing one of your fabulous fireside chats with Luke.
Keep up the good work both of you 🙂
Boom! Love it. Email me Lukey and let’s do this. Sonya says so ;0)
Great stuff, David. We need to use our spare time well – some choose TV, others choose the gym, some choose to build empires. Go!
Plenty David. See you inside the Small Business Big Marketing Forum – http://www.CrankMyMarketing.com Seriously!
Ah, there’s a lot of love in the room. Love it!
Thanks for the offer Tim. I shall be in touch. And, thank you Sonya for your support!
Like – I’ve spoken with you before, and from one bald guy to the next – you really have been on a great ride. It’s great to keep hearing more stories about your continued success. – J Hunter
Hi Timbo and Luke!
I was interested in the discussion around pricing the laces. From memory ( I listened a week or so ago) the pricing of $7.95 was arrived at in fairly arbitrary way. That is, we need a price so let’s give this a go. There’s nothing wrong with that, but why not $8.95?
I recall a quote from the founder of luxury brand business now known as LVMH Moet Henessey…he said “I don’t want to be in the ‘need’ business. I want to be in the ‘want’ business. The margins are so much better!”
I say ‘what happens when you have a product that people need, but also want?’ Hmmm, wonder if anyone can think of one?
P.s. love the website (simple, clean, vibrant) and the ‘how-to- guides’ add a point of interest and an additional reason to come back to the site again and refer others to it.
cheers,
The Fat Badger
I like your thinking, Fat Badger. Now, excuse whilst I go and turn Small Business Big Marketing in to a ‘want’ business ;0)
Timbo – two of the 10 learnings I am going to implement straight away are – 1) 7/5 calls and 2) the warm intro. I will then look at the other tips once I have these under wraps- thanks again.
Luke Schoknecht – very impressed with the strategy and implementation. Thanks for the insights.
The 7/5 call strategy is a ripper, Diana. I’implement every day and it5 works. Hands down.