Owner/CEO's Name & Business's Name
Jeff Taxdahl, Thread Logic, Inc.
Year Established
2002
Why is your business unique and what's your pitch?
Thread Logic creates custom logo embroidered apparel. How we reach and serve our customers is unique to the industry: We market to other businesses exclusively on the Internet.
The industry ordinarily sets prices by stitch count – how many stitches it takes to create a logo. After I thought about it from the customer’s perspective, I realized that nobody knows how many stitches are in their logo. We created a flat pricing model where the cost of the embroidery is already included in the price of the apparel. That takes the pricing guesswork out of the equation for the customer.
What led you to start the business?
Owning my own business was an idea I had going back to my days in college. In fact, my father was a successful business owner for 34 years.
The first day at my last “real-job,” the board of directors fired the CEO that hired me. Needless to say, things changed after that and I was one of 40 people laid-off four months later as result of a company reorganization.
I became aware of the embroidery industry from the roles I had with my different employers. That gave me a very good idea of the skill set required to be successful and it felt like there was a good match with my personal skills.
After being laid-off, I thought this was the opportunity I needed to test my experience and skills to see if building and owning a company was really something I could do. Sure, the stakes were high, but I was not afraid of failing in the process.
Being an entrepreneur and business owner is not a job, it is a lifestyle. It is 24/7/365. It is woven into the fabric of everyday life. On some levels it defines who you are. My father-in-law is a farmer. I equate my lifestyle as a business owner much to that of a farmer. It is something you are thinking about and working on all the time. Whether you are driving down the road, in the shower, or at your son’s baseball game, it is always with you. The challenge of course is being able to thrive in that situation. It is not for everyone.
Lessons Learned
- I’m a big supporter of failure. I truly believe that success doesn’t happen without it. If you’re not failing, you’re not doing anything. Failure allows us the opportunity to find out what doesn’t work. When we know what doesn’t work, we’re closer to knowing what does work, and closer to success.
- What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. When bad things happen there’s an opportunity for growth and a strengthening of character. In my case, that’s very true. Being a victim of a corporate reorganization didn’t kill me. Now, 9 years later, I’m in a much better place in my life both personally and professionally.