I remember how excited I was back in the day when we started @digmi and we would get an on-line order. As you can probably guess, that didn’t happen very often. In fact, the orders were so few and far between in those days, I was actually shocked that someone actually purchased one of our original styles. You have no idea how grateful I was for those orders. I remember telling myself, "Anyone who places a Digmi order is going to get a hand written personal thank you note from the owner!" So thats exactly what I started to do. With each new order, I would always take a little time and write the customer a personal thank you note. I actually didn’t think it was that big of a deal - I just wanted to say thank you and let them know how much we appreciated their business and support. I'm both happy and proud to say that over the years, our customers have noticed.
Well, some time has passed since those first orders and I think it’s safe to say we’ve made a little progress. We no longer sell our tee shirts out of cardboard boxes (well, maybe we do at some of our events haha). We have some retail accounts and our online orders have grown. Even with that growth, we are still the same small team with the big dream. And with that dream, and your Digmi purchase, I still write each customer a thank you note. Yes, each and every one! And to be honest, I really do enjoy it. You see, that customer had a million choices to choose from, and they chose a guy in a tie. A thank you note is the least we could do.
Today, I decided to write a thank you note for our latest on-line order, but I also decided to take it step further. Today I decided that I would personally deliver it to the customer himself. Yeah, I know, it wasn’t that far from our office, but I thought it would be cool to personally drop it off, shake his hand and say thank you! So thats exactly what I did. I packed up the purchase order in our Digmi office, wrote a personal thank you note on the invoice and hopped in the car. And without any notice, I showed up at Illustrated Beauty (hair & beauty salon in Somerville, NJ (where I proudly get my hair cut)), and personally delivered some Digmi. And I’m super glad I did.
Throughout this journey building our brand, there have been so many really cool experiences along the way. So many cool places we have visited, so many incredible people and companies that we have had the privilege of working with. And I hope that as we continue to grow, we will earn more of those cool opportunities.
But at the end of the day, we are just a brand that started selling our designs in minor league clubhouses and town street fairs, telling our story face to face with our customers. Sure, meeting with important people in the retail industry or doing an interview on camera is a lot of fun...but there is nothing better than spending time with a customer who CHOSE one of our styles or products over the endless choices that he or she had in front of them. Being able to tell our story, share our vision and ultimately say THANK YOU is what this is all about for us.
There is a line in one of my all-time favorite t.v. shows, HBO's HOW TO MAKE IN AMERICA, where Cam Calderon (played by Victor Rasuk) says to his hustling fashion brand partner Ben Epstein (played by Bryan Greenberg)....
"....we have to be face to face with our customers".
Yeah Cam, that's exactly what I'm saying!
After all this time working hard to build this brand, I guess you can say that I'm still trying to figure out HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA. But I'm almost certain that I figured out one way to do it.... Stay face to face with your customers and make sure to write a personal thank you note for every on-line order that comes in.
So with that all said, please Tip Your Cap to my man Jarrod Jacome for picking up our collection of Digmi snapBack hats and continuing to support our brand. It means a great deal to all of us who work on this project. And a shoutout to his wife Jenny Jacome for the awesome photo bomb and making this moment even cooler!I super pumped I was able to stop by and personally deliver your Digmi.
Hey, we still have a long way to go...but it's moments like this, seeing people excited to get new Digmi gear, that never gets old. I promise to keep writing ✍️ thank you notes to every customer who orders from us, no matter how big we may get. And who knows, if you’re lucky, I might just show up at your door with a personal Digmi delivery.
