For this episode of the podcast, we invited Tom Falco to chat with us about his vintage clothes business, Primetime Pickups. Tom is a local entrepreneur who, like many, fell on hard times due to COVID-19 and found himself with limited job prospects as a result of the virus’ effect on the job market. However, instead of sitting idly by waiting for the right job opportunity to come to him, Tom used his free time and marketing prowess to start a successful e-commerce business from the comfort of his own home. D...
For this episode of the podcast, we invited Tom Falco to chat with us about his vintage clothes business, Primetime Pickups. Tom is a local entrepreneur who, like many, fell on hard times due to COVID-19 and found himself with limited job prospects as a result of the virus’ effect on the job market. However, instead of sitting idly by waiting for the right job opportunity to come to him, Tom used his free time and marketing prowess to start a successful e-commerce business from the comfort of his own home. During this episode, our guest goes into great detail about how vintage resellers structure their businesses, what he has learned from his competitors, and what Primetime Pickups does differently. Additionally, he talks about the marketing tactics he uses to cut through the noise in such a crowded online marketplace, as well as the importance of authenticity when engaging with your consumer base. We finish up talking to Tom about the future of his business and whether he intends to continue to grow the brand into a physical storefront.
What we talk about
- Starting a business during COVID-19
- What marketing tactics are suited to an e-commerce businesses
- The importance of authenticity and transparency in marketing
- Scaling up a side hustle
Links from this episode
https://www.instagram.com/primetime.pickups/ (Primetime Pickups on Instagram)
https://www.primetimepickups.com.au (Primetime Pickups' Website)
Find us elsewhere
https://futuretri.be/ (Future Tribe Website)
https://www.instagram.com/futuretri.be/ (Future Tribe on Instagram)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/germainemuller/ (Germaine on LinkedIn)
https://www.instagram.com/germa_ne/ (Germaine on Instagram)
https://futuretheory.com.au/ (Futuretheory Website)
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated automatically and as such, may contain various spelling and syntax errors
[00:00:00] Germaine: [00:00:00] Hello, future tribe. Welcome to another episode of the podcast on this week's episode, I've got Tom Falco from Primetime Pickups. How are you, Tom?
[00:00:09] Tom: [00:00:09] Good. How are you?
[00:00:10] Germaine: [00:00:10] Thank you. Tell us about a Primetime Pickups before we really get into the hard questions. Yeah.
[00:00:16] Tom: [00:00:16] So just a bit of a basic overview would say, its a vintage clothes business, American sports in spite that I, started out of my bedroom, in Gungahlin Canberra.
[00:00:26]Essentially we dropped collections. So, I'll source a whole bunch of clothes in the States, a whole bunch of sort of 90's and 2000's, vintage, sports gear. and then on one day during the month, we'll drop all that gear at once on the website. And yeah the response to that screening look incredible.
[00:00:43] It's been amazing so far, so I'm pretty, pretty excited to see where it could go.
[00:00:47] Germaine: [00:00:47] Yeah. Nice. when did you start this whole thing?
[00:00:51]Tom: [00:00:51] It was, essentially when , once COVID, sort of hit . I really had the time to sort of sit down and really had a crack at, sort of doing it, I had the idea for a while. [00:01:00]
[00:01:00]But yeah, once, once COVID hit , so it's sort of been three, three or four, four months. I think two of those months of sort of planning all out and sort of writing up business plans and strategic plans in terms of marketing, how I was going to sort of get it off the ground and then three months of really operating now.
[00:01:15] So we've just dropped, uh, our collection to drop date. Um, so we've dropped one collection already. We've dropped a sort of second $25 and under collection gearing up the second collection on the 29th of July.
[00:01:29] Germaine: [00:01:29] Yeah. Wow. That's that's exciting. So that's uh, about nine days away from the, from the time we were recording.
[00:01:34] So, um, how old are you now?
[00:01:37]Tom: [00:01:37] So I'm 24.
[00:01:39] Germaine: [00:01:39] Okay. So started starting nice and young. Um, did you have this idea sort of getting into your teenage years or has it been, been a lot longer or more recently that you came up with the idea? Yeah. Well,
[00:01:50] Tom: [00:01:50] it's, it's, it's, it's sort of like an idea that we'll always have.
[00:01:53] Like, I, I spent a couple of years over in the States and so I got to experience sort of firsthand the market and demand for [00:02:00] vintage clothes over there. or some more so over here, but. sort of over there used to be sort of, and, you know, go to a thrift shop and you see a, an old school jacket. If it 10 us dollars and jeez like, I wish I could sort of take the time and sell it in Australia, but I never had that sort of platform to do it.
[00:02:17] Um, but I guess coming home and having that time to, sort of sit down and really sort of plan it out, and that, that sort of matters should the marketing skills and the communication skills that I was able to sort of. Learn through a couple of years at uni. Mm.
[00:02:31] Germaine: [00:02:31] So you had some sort of background in marketing and communications before you, I guess started the business.
[00:02:38] Tom: [00:02:38] Yeah, so I did a, I did a double degree in sports, media and public relations at the University of Canberra. Through that I was, he did a minor in sports marketing and events. So although it's not sort of very specific in terms of marking in an audience where you're trying to sell them stuff, there's still a lot of sort of skills at correlate that I learned in my [00:03:00] time there.
[00:03:00] And I had the, I was fortunate enough to do a whole bunch of internships through my time at university of Canberra that I think really helped me out.
[00:03:08] Germaine: [00:03:08] Yeah. Yeah. And I guess you had a, skillset that was transferable, from, I mean, sports is just sort of one, one genre, so you can still transfer it over as you've found.
[00:03:17] Tom: [00:03:17] Absolutely. Yeah. A hundred percent.
[00:03:20] Germaine: [00:03:20] Yeah. I mean, tell me how you source. So you, do you do a drop, how big, big sort of the drop in terms of say retail value? Um, how big have they been? So,
[00:03:32]Tom: [00:03:32] in terms of, flux paces and. It's just my job. So the first drop was about 30 pieces. And now, obviously that was sort of the first one.
[00:03:42] So we went a little bit smaller with that. Just because the overhead on buying all the imagery and stuff, it was like it was a big risk. So the second one, now that I've seen that there's a demand for it. And as a market for, and people are willing to sort of, you know, Take money out of their pocket to buy our stuff.
[00:03:56] I can sort of scale it up a little bit more. So I think the next one is about 50 [00:04:00] pieces, collection threes, ia all ordered , so that the next shop, all ordered now it's all being shipped over now and that'd be closer to sort of 60, 70 pieces and really sort of just scale it up from that point. So
[00:04:11] Germaine: [00:04:11] just scaling up slowly.
[00:04:13] Yeah. How, how do you source them? Like, are you, were you there originally and now are you sort of. Calling, through shops over there or how are you managing that side
[00:04:23] Tom: [00:04:23] of it? It's people don't do them very similar stuff to me. So a lot of, a lot of people want to stay w. Well, we'll sort of be the first person to go to the thrift shop and buy a whole bunch of bunch of stuff and then throw it up on, apps like Depop, Ebay and other one Instagram.
[00:04:38]There's a ton of people selling stuff in the sites that that'll bought from the thrift shop for sort of 10 us dollars and then sell one onto you for 15 us dollars. And then obviously you gotta pay shipping and stuff like that. But, being able to source it's very like very, it's very easy to find these people that are doing that.
[00:04:55]Like it takes a ton of time. I've got, I think the first collection also was. [00:05:00] Probably about six different suppliers. and obviously I said that the first collection was 30 pieces that works out to be like five pieces as far. Whereas now I'm sort of uncomfortable with this clause that I have and the squads that I'm borrowing stuff off.
[00:05:13] I'm more comfortable making. I think I did an order for 17 sweatshirts for collection two that should arrive this week. which is. So much easier than, sort of ordering a five or six different people.
[00:05:26] Germaine: [00:05:26] Yeah. Yeah. And it makes it more manageable for you. And then obviously it brings down the overheads in terms of yeah.
[00:05:31] Tom: [00:05:31] And in terms of prices as well. shipping is another one shipping gets expensive and if the Mo sort of more you order, the more you can save on, on each piece. But then also, building relationships with, with the supplies. I guess for me, When I first started, it was, it was very sort of like always reaching out every day.
[00:05:51] I was messaging. I was probably sending close to 50 messages a day, people on Depop, people want to hear about to people on Instagram and handful of get back to me and stuff [00:06:00] like that. Now it's got to the point where I've made a couple of hours off people. Yeah, reach out to me once they've got sports stuff that I think I might be interested in.
[00:06:09] So it's sort of,
[00:06:10] Germaine: [00:06:10] because it's an easy sell for them rather than answering questions from, you know, every Tom Dick and Harry, it's just talk to Tom. Go mate, are you keen? This is what I've got and then
[00:06:21] Tom: [00:06:21] it's much more passive on it's because I enjoyed doing the marketing side of it. I enjoy publishing photos on Instagram.
[00:06:30] I enjoy taking photos. I enjoy replying to people's messages doing Q and A's live stream button. Or I love that stuff. I hate sitting on my phone and browsing through. As far as the clothes and messaging people and that like, you have to do it. but the, obviously the more, the more you do it, the more passive it comes.
[00:06:48] And so I'm sort of working for point now where it's like, I don't have to put that much effort into doing that. I can focus my energy on doing different things.
[00:06:57] Germaine: [00:06:57] Definitely now, um, [00:07:00] you sort of touched on it earlier, but how do you handle the marketing or how did you build up that sort of marketing initially before you did your first drop when you were essentially just a guy with an unproven?
[00:07:12]Brand if you, if you could even call it that at the time, cause there was nothing, right. I mean, you started from
[00:07:16] Tom: [00:07:16] scratch. Exactly. So I think, um, I think my thing was I wanted it to be locked super. Super authentic with it in terms of, in terms of like the marketing in terms of everything. So I want it to be very transparent and clear.
[00:07:27] Um, I, I worked with a couple of influences, like im real big on, influencer marketing. I think it's, it's super underrated. As long as it's done right. Instagram ads, the one that I was used to sort of build up the, the, the falling a little bit, If you don't ads as well. I think you have to, you have to be authentic with it.
[00:07:47]I think you have to provide some sort of value. and for me, that was in terms of, I think I did a giveaway, which. It would receive, I think the engagements and that was ridiculous. [00:08:00] So I did a, I think I did a giveaway and run a a hundred dollars with Instagram ads on it. And the engagements were completely starving at 1,200 comments.
[00:08:11] And it was all comments. Tagging people because it was a giveaway. So I was able to sort of build up sort of get people in that way and sort of get people looking at the content. And then I was comfortable enough in the content that I was producing that people would then want to stay and be like, okay, like this is valuable stuff.
[00:08:30] It's relevant to me. even if they only time for the a hundred dollar giveaway, he followed me because I thought they were a chance of winning a hundred bucks. Then, to then on the page, like you have to still be providing decent content.
[00:08:43]Germaine: [00:08:43] Yes. Yeah, because they've got a, I have a reason to subscribe and then a reason to keep coming back.
[00:08:48]Now, so did you originally build off a, build a, a bit of a platform and a following on Instagram? Is that, was that sort of your game plan or were you driving them to a website and then pick up email addresses? How did you sort of, and I guess [00:09:00] even before that, did you. build up the hype first, before the first drop, like, um, or did you actually have just a bunch of stuff for sale and then stop?
[00:09:09] Tom: [00:09:09] So I did build out the high performance. Yeah. Which I think was very important. And, it was all done through Instagram. I think like, I think Instagram is the perfect medium to do what I do. Like, my, like my website, um, Other than when, when we drop clothes like that sort of, I think an hour or so between shopping clothes and people buying it, like that's when there's the most traffic on the website, it's not as sort of, because we don't have regular stock up.
[00:09:40]my job collections, it's recommitting to us, pigs and flys. but yeah, we just send people to the website on the day of the drop.
[00:09:49]Germaine: [00:09:49] Yeah. Right, right. And so you're now gearing up your third drop, is that
[00:09:53] correct?
[00:09:54] Tom: [00:09:54] Second and second collection, but third drop, we did a sort of, and under [00:10:00] drop, which is we got sn insane deal with 'em with one of the suppliers who sent over a whole bunch of luck, quality stock, but it was just stuff I didn't really think fit in the collection.
[00:10:10] Um, sort of released it on one day and people managed to pick up themselves at bargain, which was great. And that's another thing which is, I guess, helps out with, with building that sort of loyal fan base is opening up with deals like that.
[00:10:22]Germaine: [00:10:22] Yeah. Yeah. Did you, have you had to deal with, with, I guess the customer service side of things of like returns or getting, stock that is not very good quality.
[00:10:32] How have you managed that? Have you had that?
[00:10:34] Tom: [00:10:34] Fortunately not, I guess. With returns. Like, obviously im open to it, and if people don't like the door, I say like, um, it's fine to send it back. And obviously with vintage clothes, and sometimes it might have a stain, sometimes it might not fit. Right. And sometimes it just might be trashed.
[00:10:52] I might just have to throw it out. But I think as long as you're transparent with people and as long as you are open with, how it fits the quality [00:11:00] of it. and obviously I do try and source good quality stuff. If I see a photo of something with a stain on it, I won't buy it. But as long as you're transparent with it, people don't seem to ever have a problem with it.
[00:11:11]Germaine: [00:11:11] And I guess they, when you're buying vintage, you're already, you have that mindset of you're buying something that's already being used. There's no sort of buying brand new vintage. I mean, I mean you can, but it's that that's not really vintage as it, it's just new products designed to look like they're retro, like they're vintage, but they're completely different.
[00:11:29] So I guess, It really fits that authentic brand as well. I mean, you talk about, a lot of marketing nowadays. They talk about being authentic. but when it comes to vintage stuff, I feel like it's. It all just fits in really nicely because, because vintage is, is very much authentic. Like it's not clothing pretending to be anything else.
[00:11:49] It was just what was cool at the time. And now it's, um, now it's being sold again, sort of. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
[00:11:57] Tom: [00:11:57] If you're getting coming to that point of being authentic, he comes down [00:12:00] to everything. you know, I, I did a ton of research before I started, um, Primetime Pickups on different pages and. there was like, this is plenty of put on similar stuff to me out there.
[00:12:11] Um, and there's plenty of doing it better than me and there's plenty to it. Worse. Maybe the one thing that I wanted to do was make sure that I bought clothes that I thought were cool or the, you know, that sales are going to keep it. and like, I see so many people that are trying to do this., very similar business model where they're picking up vintage clothes and you sort of go on the personal Instagram profile and they're not wearing any of this stuff
[00:12:40] that, yeah, it's just, you have to be authentic. You have to be passionate about it.
[00:12:43] Germaine: [00:12:43] When it's such a passion driven thing, right? Um, you don't wear vintage clothing. Because you like to wear old clothes, you wear it because you like how it looks and you definitely have to have sort of that eye for fashion and the style with that, because [00:13:00] it's all part of an part of an ensemble.
[00:13:01] You wouldn't just, Chuck on a vintage jacket and, have everything else that's sort of. Not match. if, if that's sort of the best way to put it. Now are you doing this as a side hustle at the moment or workingfull-time?
[00:13:15] Tom: [00:13:15] Yeah, so I, I was planning on coming back to Australia. I was overseas in the States for a couple years study.
[00:13:20] Um, I graduated, came back to Australia, and had a couple. Full time jobs up in Melbourne, which is my dreamis to move to Melbourne to work for a professional sports team. What I wanted to do since I was a kid. and so an opportunity to do that came up and obviously through COVID that sort of fell through, which was devestating.
[00:13:39] So then I signed a sign, a contract, working at the APS, , just processing Centerlink claims. And I do that. I think it was pretty much full time. Wake up at eight in the morning, go there and come home at two and then, and then sort of do this on the side that contract's up now. So today's the first day that I'm not working.
[00:13:59] So, yeah, [00:14:00] now I'm full time doing it.
[00:14:02] Germaine: [00:14:02] Yeah. Yeah.
[00:14:02] Tom: [00:14:02] It's a couple weeks anyway. I'm not actively looking for work at the moment. I think I'll just focus on this for the next couple weeks. See how it goes. Sort of test the waters a little bit. but it's yeah, my dream or my dream is to, is to go down to Melbourne and start working, but I don't see me stopping doing this anytime soon, either.
[00:14:18]Germaine: [00:14:18] Yeah. I mean, it sounds like, It's, you know, fairly passive in terms of like how obviously you've got to do stuff, but it's not like you've got to be there nine to five, every day. So it's definitely something that you can. No cause you can provide support or get back to messages at six o'clock at night, if you, if you felt like it.
[00:14:38]and I guess that's the beauty of running sort of a, an online business, is that it's well, I mean, even in your case, even if your time, the next drop for when you have a day off, or it's a weekend, then you can just be right there. for, for, you know, that whole period of time.
[00:14:54] Tom: [00:14:54] Yeah. Yeah. it's perfect.
[00:14:55] And I guess the thing is with, with the shipping bombs over in the States and stuff, [00:15:00] it's sort of like, it does give me time to sort of relax. Over the past couple weeks I've been posting you know sort of once or twice a day on Instagram, when a collection. Well, I think I'm waiting on another package to come in for the second collection, which dropped.
[00:15:13] We had nine, 10 days time. Once that, once that comes and I'll start sort of wrapping up and posting sort of two, three, four times a day, and that's when it sort of com becomes, gets a little bit busier and then obviously drop date is crazy. I was thinking that don't want to have lobe for it cause it's, it's so stressful, man.
[00:15:30]
[00:15:30] Germaine: [00:15:30] Yeah. Yeah. I could imagine it just being, I mean, you've got to be there. You've got to answer all the questions. and you've got to, how do you do it? Do you ship it out to people?
[00:15:39] Tom: [00:15:39] So I typically what I will, obviously I've only done one sort of collection at the month, but, um, the plan going forward is to drop, Sort of later on in the week .
[00:15:48] I think this week that this, this drops on a Wednesday. Yeah. it just so happens that I was free on the Wednesday to do everything. But, I usually do it on a Thursday or Friday. And that's, so that I'll have the weekend to sort of go to the post office, get everything packed. Did you have [00:16:00] any art? Obviously you've got to wash, washing on the clothes, make sure they're presentable, but you've also got to sort of take photos of clothes that went to the website.
[00:16:07]So that's, it's sort of, it's very passive when you're not selling anything. you start selling stuff and as soon as it drops coming out, like it starts to sort of ramp up. So it's been good for the past. I haven't really had too much to do. the next couple of weeks would be pretty crazy I reckon.
[00:16:24]Germaine: [00:16:24] Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking at it. Looking at sort of what you've done so far. We've talked about all the cool stuff. Let's talk about the not so good stuff. Have you made any mistakes so far, do you think, have you, have you sort of done something and sort of gone, hold on, probably shouldn't have done that or you sort of look back and go on.
[00:16:44] If I didn't do that, um, things would have been better. Things sort of could have been different.
[00:16:49] Tom: [00:16:49] There's a couple of things. The one is, understanding sort of price like the pricing of stuff. There were a couple of times where I think that was, that was once during the one collection where I really sort of [00:17:00] overpaid , for a bunch of items, which ended up selling it, but it was just, it wasn't worth what I paid for it.
[00:17:06] And that's it. You got to figure it out. Things like exchange rates and shipping costs and stuff like that. And it's stuff that you can't really, there's not, there's not an online guide and how to do this trial and error. but walk on there now not to overpay for things. another thing is I, I remember getting a sweatshirt and, and it had a, it was like a, screen-printed t-shirt, Me not being the best on and clothes and washing clothes.
[00:17:29] It's just graphic. It's just melted it. And I was like, throw it out, like,
[00:17:37] yeah,
[00:17:38] Exactly. but you know, you, you learn, and it's not mistakes that I'll make again, hopefully touch wood. but I guess it, it, it's just all part of, or part of running a business anyway.
[00:17:46] Germaine: [00:17:46] So. That's it, you just gotta to handle it and just sort of go with the flow there. C ause there's no point getting caught up in it all you've, you know, at the very least, just cause you've messed that up, you've got a whole bunch of other, clothing items that you gotta prep and sell and, and all that.
[00:18:00] [00:17:59] So once you get a drop, do you start photographing sort of straight off the bat and start throwing it onto the web? Well, stop prepping. Uh, your Shopify site, um, for it to go live, is that, so do you need, you usually have like a three day period where it's, it's a bit
[00:18:16] Tom: [00:18:16] tip the gap typically happens is I'll try and have a little bit of stock on hand before the previous collection drops.
[00:18:23] So collection two is dropping in 10 days. Hopefully I have some gear in for collection three, so I can start posting on Instagram, start sort of transom photos up saying this is what's coming up. just to keep people interested and engaged with it. And then, so all the kids pretty much have a to, Oh, I think we're dropping next Wednesday.
[00:18:44] So I'll go through this weekend and take. Sort of product photos of it. and I'll go through and I'll size everything up. Um, but the tape measure and I'll type in all the details, I'll make notes of any sayings or how clothing fits. I'll do the, all the Q and A's and Instagram get [00:19:00] people sort of familiar with what they might be buying.
[00:19:02]So to get a prep prep this week, this weekend, sorry. And then, yeah, it dropped out on Wednesday or volleyball. I sort of do is relax. Most of that. I sort of stress out about whether or not people are gonna buy the stuff. And then, sort of get everyone a little bit hype for it. and then it's six, I think six o'clock you just make the website live and it's similar
[00:19:22] Germaine: [00:19:22] 6:00 PM,
[00:19:23] Tom: [00:19:23] 6:00 PM.
[00:19:24] It's very. You've ever been on the YZY drops and stuff like that, where people just sort of sit on website and refresh the page very similar to the app, which is it's, it's, it's a, it's a very, very like nerve wracking feeling. But when it, when it hits and you see the orders come in, like it's, it's so humbling and so exciting as well.
[00:19:42] So.
[00:19:42]Germaine: [00:19:42] Yeah. How'd you pick Shopify to be the place to host your
[00:19:46] Tom: [00:19:46] show? I've worked with Wix a little bit with my personal sort of portfolio from my media stuff that I do. And my university degrees and, regimens and stuff like that. and I, I did a whole bunch of like, I love [00:20:00] watching, YouTube videos on sort of marketing and drop shipping and obviously dropped Shopify and drop shipping.
[00:20:05] Go ahead. And, and, um, so I just decided to check it out. Shopify Watts. It just seemed like the easiest platform to use. Um, Because I didn't need a super fancy website. Like all the marketing was done through Instagram, so I literally need a website. Right. We started throwing the product. So people bought them like, that's the purpose of the website is not to do anything other than that.
[00:20:25]it's been unreal. Like it's, it's so easy to use. Um,
[00:20:29]Germaine: [00:20:29] it's held up with the demand and things like that as well.
[00:20:31] Tom: [00:20:31] I haven't had any issues with it. Like not a single
[00:20:33] Germaine: [00:20:33] one. Yeah. Awesome. So anyone listening, Shopify is an easy, relatively easy sort of DIY solution for, you know, as obviously as you scale up your needs will start to change.
[00:20:46] And, usually what we find is that, if you want to keep things, things, symbol, Shopify. Fantastic. and, and really you can grow quite a lot on Shopify. and it just, you've just got to sort of temper your expectations, I guess, around [00:21:00] what you want to be able to do, because there's, I guess, limits too around how custom you can make it.
[00:21:06] But, like you were talking about Tom, like you've got a fairly simple. List of requirements for, for the website side of things, because you've got the marketing or handled separately. So, yeah, it sounds like Shopify is awesome. Um, now we've talked about what you hope to do moving forward in terms of sort of personal life going to Melbourne.
[00:21:27]you continued to run the Rhonda store. Are there plans to expand it? Yeah. Is the next, you know, is the goal for each drop to be bigger and bigger? Are you going to go past just, I mean, when you talk about vintage clothing, is it really just like tops and bottoms? Is that a. It, or are you going to go into shoes?
[00:21:48] Tom: [00:21:48] Yeah, obviously trying to expand as many ways as possible. I think the obvious one is scaling up in terms of quantity and getting more items, getting more followers and stuff like that, which is, which [00:22:00] is sort of what I'm focused on at the moment. I have sort of started to too reach out and do sort of jackets stop we're stopping for the first time this next collection.
[00:22:09]the first collection was just sweaters and tee shirts. Um, shoes, probably not just because like, I'm not passionate about it. I wear beat up Converse shoes. Like I don't, I don't know. There's something about stocking. Like I'm not going to do something that I'm not passionate about. Um, I, I have this, um, obviously like really big goal of doing a popup shop in Canberra.
[00:22:28] I think that'd be, I think that'd be unreal. I think that'd be really cool. And I think, if I'm able to sort of grow the Canberra market more than more than I am at the moment, I think that's something that I'll look to do in the pretty near future. Um, But yeah, just, just scaling it up in terms of quality quantities, this sort of what I'm trying to do atthe moment.
[00:22:46]Germaine: [00:22:46] Yeah, that's really exciting. I mean, I guess the Canberra store sort of up, popup store idea would be obviously affected a little bit by what's happening with coronavirus and, and all that, because ideally what you'd hope is just to [00:23:00] have just so many people in one go that social distancing is just not possible.
[00:23:05] Right? I mean, you'd want to drive as many people to that physical location as you can.
[00:23:11] Exactly.
[00:23:12] Tom: [00:23:12] And mostly what I mean, we'll see what happens with it all. it's obviously very early days in the business and so we don't really know what's going on with coronavirus at the moment. but yeah, if it happens in a year's time, it happens, it happens in six months time.
[00:23:25] But like, I remember being a uni student and, going to like a UC market day. I don't know if you've ever been in one and walking down and seeing like, Kids selling their startup clothes for a bit. I just thought it was the coolest thing. I was like, I'd love to want to do that.
[00:23:39]Germaine: [00:23:39] Yeah, no, I, um, we had a stall at one of those and we met our own, product.
[00:23:44] It was sort of a laptop. Um, it recorded it, we called it a lap desk and it was this thing basically where you can keep your laptop and it came with an inbuilt mouse pad and he could, um, um, sort of, uh, there's a little, uh, catchment area for like a [00:24:00] tablet. So you could have a tablet on there and your phone on your side.
[00:24:03] So basically the idea was that you can sort of use, like, if it's a fully fledged desk, On your lap. Um, so that like if you're watching TV or something, you can use a laptop without just having to,
[00:24:14]Tom: [00:24:14] and that was at UC market, you said?
[00:24:16]Germaine: [00:24:16] Yeah. Yeah, that was, Oh, when was that? 2014, maybe. Yeah. Um, it's a whole lot of fun, like you said, and, you know, being able to see the excitement and people just coming up with their ideas and all that.
[00:24:27] That's really awesome. Now, where can people find out more about you?
[00:24:30] Tom: [00:24:30] Yeah, so the ma the main platform is Instagram. So, Primetime.Pickups, on Instagram.
[00:24:36] Germaine: [00:24:36] awesome. We'll link that in the, in the description. Um, and then obviously the, the website as well, which is primetime pickups.com.au
[00:24:44] Tom: [00:24:44] Yep.
[00:24:46] Germaine: [00:24:46] Awesome. Um, you ready for this? The last, last section? Awesome. Uh, top three books or podcasts that you recommend.
[00:24:54] Tom: [00:24:54] I love reading autobiographies. So Nick revolt is a good one. Dying Swan. That's a good [00:25:00] one. It's probably not the most informative one, but it's bloody fun read and Pele. I was on that already as a kid that I'd got really inspired by when I used to play soccer.
[00:25:07] Soccer.
[00:25:09] Yeah. Awesome. Big sports fan, obviously through and through, um, top three software tools that you can't live
[00:25:16] without. I'm not the best at it, but you have to have it
[00:25:22] Germaine: [00:25:22] just, it
[00:25:23] Tom: [00:25:23] just, it, all the graphics really, I touch up photos with lightroom, which is probably the second one. but Photoshop, Lightroom, and premiere pro the videos, but that's sort of, I really started making videos for the, for the business just yet, but I use.
[00:25:41] Awesome.
[00:25:42] Germaine: [00:25:42] Fantastic. Um, top three mantras, you try and live by anything that you sort of, you know, tell yourself
[00:25:48] Tom: [00:25:48] or repeat to yourself. They have too many managers. Um, when I started uni, I put up this poster of Michael Jordan on the wall, which has been up for about three, four or five years. Yeah. Four [00:26:00] or five years now.
[00:26:00] Um, and it has a little quote underneath. It says no board, no bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings , which I. I just think he's a cool,quote.
[00:26:10] Germaine: [00:26:10] Yeah, that's awesome. I've never heard it before, but, um, that's that's yeah, really cool. I guess, telling you to showing you that you can be humble, but at the same time, just reach for whatever it is and just climb up.
[00:26:23] Yeah, love it. Um, top three people you follow or study
[00:26:28] Tom: [00:26:28] in terms of, in terms of the vintage side of my life individually. Cause I think, um, Jackson from vintage kit, um, I don't know if you've ever checked him out on Instagram, but he's sort of like,
[00:26:39] Germaine: [00:26:39] he's like the
[00:26:40] Tom: [00:26:40] godfather of selling clothes on Instagram.
[00:26:42]Mark from wacky vintages and all the one. And Dan from Dan straight vintage, all three of those guys. Not for the dogs, just softball. I would reach out to and ask one questions and we pass them too much. but they were very open and honest how they ran their businesses and, gave me some, some great advice [00:27:00] coming up.
[00:27:00] So I definitely recommend checking those people out. And if you like my vintage stuff and did not go no doubt, then you do love their stuff. They're selling to.
[00:27:07]Germaine: [00:27:07] Yeah, that's really cool. It's, what's been really, um, awesome going like to this whole sort of conversation is that you're really passionate about.
[00:27:15] And I think, it just goes to show that we've a really passionate about it. You'll find ways to make it happen. You'll talk to people you reach out. and you know, you just got to sort of stay,
[00:27:24] Tom: [00:27:24] stay a hundred percent of that collaboration as well. It's again, going back to authenticity, these blokes are.
[00:27:32] So open about discussing their business plans and their strategic plans with someone who's potentially going to be a competitor, I guess, um, like more than, more than happy to, to share that with me, which I was incredibly humbled by. Um, and so whenever someone reaches out to me and said, Hey, I'm out, like, how do you go about shipping?
[00:27:53] How do you go about sourcing deal? I've been once about it because folks that helped me out did the same.
[00:27:59][00:28:00] Germaine: [00:27:59] Yeah. Yeah. Love it. Well, um, all the best moving forward, I'll definitely keep an eye out for the next drop and, uh, would love to meet in person sometime. Awesome. Thanks for your time.
