If You're Waiting For The Perfect Time To Start, Watch This Episode...

Still had no idea how I wanted to start a business, but I knew I wanted to. Like, I grew up with an entrepreneurial mindset.

If I had a product, I'd probably be running ads because you can sell that thing anywhere. What would you say the biggest piece of advice would be that you've ever received or that you could give?

So something that I received Brand Builders Podcast.

All right, RJ with Worthy Hat Co., welcome to the podcast today. Um, we're so glad to have you here. I'm excited to dive into everything that you're into. Uh, I know you're involved with Worthy Hat Co. Everybody in town uses Worthy Hat Co. for hats. If you need hats, by the way, by the end of this episode you will be convinced that you need to buy through Worthy Hat Co. How's it going, Randi?

Good. Yeah, thanks for having me on. What y'all are doing in Abilene is awesome. So different. I love it.

So for those of our listeners who have never maybe heard of Worthy Hat Co. before, kind of tell us the background of how it got started. What were you doing before Worthy Hat Co., that kind of thing?

Yeah. Well, I was going to school at Texas Tech. Pursuing a career in occupational therapy, getting a degree in kinesiology. Freshman year, I was bored. I was in the dorms. You know, when you first get to college, you don't have many friends. Sitting there and I was just drawing out on a notebook, like, businesses that I would want to start. And I was also broke. Freshman in college, there's no way I was starting a business. So I kind of put that away and—

Okay, so let me ask you this. Sorry to interrupt.

No, you're good.

Why, like, what made you have the thought of like, oh, I'm just gonna write down business names? Have you always thought like with an entrepreneur type of mindset? Yeah, that's it. Or like, where did that come from?

So it stems from like growing up, I was always selling car scentsies or making jewelry or having a lemonade stand in the front yard. Every golf tournament. And so it always, like, I grew up with an entrepreneurial mindset, and that's just where it stems from. Like, even when I was going to pursue occupational therapy, I was always thinking, like, how can I own my own clinic? Where can— it was always like the business side of things, not so much the career.

Okay, so continue the story. You're at Tech, you've kind of had these ideas. Was a hat company on that list?

No, it was only like, like boutique, you know, the clothing, just everything. So how that came about is like sophomore year, I had gotten into an apartment, finally out of the dorm, picked that notebook back up. I'm like, man, I still have this urge to start something. I'm bored. I'm working as a therapy tech in Lubbock. I'm just not passionate about it. I love it, but I'm just not passionate about it. and I still had no idea how I wanted to start a business, but I knew I wanted to. And actually, ironically, you know, everything happens for a reason and at the perfect timing. Um, before Abilene had Crumble Cookie, my mom was like, hey, can you bring me a Crumble Cookie to my classroom? She teaches 4th grade in Merkel, and I was like, yeah, I'll bring you one. So I drive down on a Thursday and—

from Lubbock?

Yeah, from Lubbock.

Okay. Okay.

Yes. And I give her the cookie and I walk in and she has like all these fourth graders pulling out affirmation cards out of a jar. And all those fourth graders are like, I am worthy. I'm worthy. I'm worthy. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is crazy. Like, what is this? Mom, tell me about it. And she was like, oh, you just came in. Like, we do this every Thursday. Affirmation Thursday. And I was like, okay, well, this is awesome, but I gotta go because I have things to plan.

I have 14 ideas.

Yeah. So I run out of there and I call my now husband, but my boyfriend at the time, and was like, Christian, I have no idea what I'm going to start, but I know the name and it has something to do with worthy. And I told him about that. And I was like, when I get back to Lubbock, let's start planning. And when I got back to Lubbock, he had like this notebook already out, and he was drawing like t-shirts, a hat, all these different— all the merch things that we both love. And the only thing I saw on the paper was a hat, and I was like, that's it, Worthy Hat Co. That's it. And so ever since then, it's just— we ran with the idea.

Okay, so you were in college?

Yes, I was sophomore.

And you were planning on doing occupational therapy?

Yes, I would say up until like When I graduated college, I was still planning to do occupational therapy. My plan was just to have a little fun side gig.

Just a little extra cash on the side.

Yeah.

Okay, so did you immediately start Worthy Hat Co. after you had that idea, or did it kind of sit around for a while, or?

I'm not the type to just sit on something for a while. Actually, that night I had called some people that previously owned the embroidery company in Merkle, Get N Stitched. I called them and I was like, hey, I want to make a few hats. Can you do that for me? And they're like, yeah, we'll help you out in any way. I'll get 3 hats, I'll send you the design, and launched it within a few months.

Wow. Okay. So then you were off to the races. What was your first design? Was it just Worthy Hat Co.?

Um, no, my first design was on a baseball cap. Black baseball cap, and it said— I think it— what was it? Oh yeah, I think it just said, "You are worthy," um, with a circle, black lettering. Man, I would not go back to those days.

Did they sell?

Um, they did sell, but I think it was more so because people knew me. They were just trying to support because I look back and I'm like, no— yes, that's how you get started. And without them, you know, we wouldn't be here today. So, but yeah, I started using Gettin' Stitched for all my hats. They were doing pretty much all the embroidery of everything. And then less than a year in, they came to me and they were like, man, you know, we have this company, but you're running it. And I was like—

because you were like ordering so much.

Yes. Like they weren't able to take any custom orders on their own. They were only doing my things. With less than a year. And so I was like, yeah, like, what are your thoughts on buying us out? And I was like, absolutely not. I'm 21. There's no way. Like, I can't do that. And then I sat on it for like a split second and then came back. Okay, yeah, I'm gonna do it. And so anyways, here we are.

So you took over the shop, um, which is your warehouse now?

Yes.

Okay. So that first year, what would you say? Because it sounds like y'all were pretty busy with a lot of orders while you were in college, right? Still in college at this point?

Yes, still in college. So, and then the shop was in Merkle. So it was like every single weekend Christian and I coming down, packing our cars full and coming back to Lubbock because I was shipping everything out of Lubbock. My first year of business, I was still able to like pull all the shipping orders things like the boxes, the tape, the stickers, all that, like I kept it under my bed. So the first year, first 6 months for sure was not outrageously busy. I would get like an order a week.

Yeah.

And then I got into wholesale and my world changed.

Okay, so like what does that mean? Because I have no idea what that means. I am a service-based business, no experience in the product world.

Yeah.

So what does that mean?

So basically, I released, which we can go back to like when things changed, but okay. When I released that Texas vintage hat that pretty much everyone has, a girl in Lubbock, Megan Reeves, she posted it after seeing Taylor Abbott. She ordered one and she posted it. And so when two very influential people post, it's like, okay, I'm getting DMs everywhere, boutiques all over, not even from Texas, like, hey, I want this hat.

Whoa.

And I'm like, okay, I gotta figure this out because I'm just a girl wanting a side hustle, have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, but with research I can do whatever.

A little bit of ChatGPT. Yeah, yeah, you'll be good.

Except then it's not a thing. Oh yeah, it's 2021.

So this is a very random side question. Yeah. So you, did you graduate college before ChatGPT was a thing?

I did not have that in college.

Me too. We can say back in my day we didn't have ChatGPT.

I know, I wish so bad that we did.

I would have been screwed, let's just say that. Yeah, I already, um, used Google a little bit too much, for sure. Anyways, okay, that was just a random thought I had. So, okay, so how are you getting these orders? So like, obviously there was a couple of posts that turn the tide a little bit from other people. Was that— so that wasn't planned, obviously. Like, they just ordered.

I had no idea. I didn't even know. Like, when I saw the order, I don't always look at names. I'm just like trying to get it out as quick as possible. And then I get a tag on Instagram. Oh, that— I would have sent you 9 hats.

Please.

I would have. Yeah.

Okay, so that was the turning point. Was there any other like marketing or anything that you were doing at that time to get other custom orders, or where was that business coming from?

Honestly, I think it helped that I knew a lot of people here, and so most of all my custom orders was coming from people in the big country, which is so awesome. Like, these are my number one supporters, and I say that— it's crazy to say because like We're in boutiques all over the world. Like, it's, it's so crazy to say, but okay.

So, so most of your business, would you say, still comes from big country, or is it majority everywhere else?

So wholesale, definitely everywhere else, which is like, you know, boutiques buying from us to put in their store. Um, custom orders, still all over because those boutiques get custom orders, and then we just have random DMs and emails that people fill out the form on the website. But a lot of like custom orders and like repping our hats are here.

Okay, cool. Um, so, so that was 3 years, right, up to this point. So during this time, I always like to ask the question, Um, and some people are readers and some people are podcast listeners. What would you say has been an influential resource, either a book or a podcast or both? If you do both, has there been anything or any person that has been in a way an inspiration or a mentor?

Yeah.

Within growing a business, because I'm always trying to listen and learn to other people who are doing the same type of thing.

Right.

I read multiple books that have completely shifted everything that I think about business. So has there been anything like that for you?

For me, I'm not a big reader. I do like a daily devotional every day, but that's about the extent of reading I get. I'm a big fan of Sadie Robertson, so when she drops a new book, I'll read hers. But—

and then listen to her podcast.

I do.

I'm like, it's great. So Katie, my wife, she always has it on the house.

Yes.

And I will watch them. Like, she has very interesting guests.

She does. I love her guests. She's just— she's changed my life. I definitely listen to her every week.

Wow. So has there been any, like, what about the business side? Like, how have you learned the business side of things? Trial and error?

Yes. So my dad has helped me a ton. Like, Still to this day, I call him every single day and I'm like, hey, this is going on. How do I go about this? Or what does this mean? And he's, he's very good, like with the monetary side, he's like, well, you need to, you know, figure out your markups and your profitable margins. You have to figure that out or everything else is not going to go right. So he helps me with that side. As far as business, it's just trial and error. And that's with everything. Trial and error every single day.

Everything that you do, it's like, oh, this might work, this might not.

Yep.

I think that's where the experience comes into play, because like in 10 years from now, you will know so many valuable things about business, and then hopefully you can help somebody else do the same thing. Um, that is, that is awesome. So when it comes to running a business and building a brand There are a lot of good times and there are also a lot of hard times, and any business owner or entrepreneur knows this. Have there been any times where maybe you second-guessed what you were doing or ran into some big hiccups, and how did you overcome those things?

Yeah, so as far as second-guessing what I'm doing, I haven't gotten to that point yet. I haven't really experienced too much burnout besides when I was pregnant. I was like, okay, I have to focus on this. But no, um, as far as, um, burnout or anything like that, no. As far as the highs and the lows, 100%.

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There's the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. For example, this weekend We have bought a new embroidery machine and we go pick it up. It's in the trailer. We get it back perfectly fine. We're 2 steps away from the door and we drop it. And so that's one of those things where it's a low.

Yeah.

I try to be the calmest in the room in all circumstances, but that was definitely challenging.

Yeah. And these machines, I'm assuming, are not cheap.

No, not at all.

So when you drop the main piece of equipment that does all of your stuff, it's kind of a big deal. It is. That's like me. So one time, little quick story, I was taking, I was taking pictures for, I think, an engagement shoot or something along the San Antonio Riverwalk. Never in my life have I dropped my camera, but I dropped it standing right next to the water. And by the grace of God, it did not go in. Like, it bounced like 3 times and then landed right on the edge. I have never been more terrified in my life because, I mean, like, that— I spent like $3,500 on that camera and I was like— and it had all the pictures from like that shoot, multiple other shoots that I still hadn't edited yet. So I was like, that was a nightmare. But anyways. So I know, I know the feeling.

Yes, it's not fun. And yeah, same here. Thankfully, by the grace of God as well, there's only one part messed up, and so it should be a quick fix, but it's still broken as of now. It'll be up soon.

It'll be up soon.

It'll be running soon.

So do you have many people who work with you or employees?

Yeah, so I have my right-hand man, Sonia. She's Awesome. She's the hardest worker. You know, when I started getting help and needing help, I wanted someone that loved the business just as much as I do, because as a business owner, really hard because most people are not near as passionate about, as about the business as you. And there's just no way of finding that someone. And somehow I did. She loves it just as much as I do. And then I have Another girl, Emily, she helps out with cleaning the hats. She stitches. And then I have a few other part-time help when we're extremely busy.

Okay. So how did you find these people?

Honestly, by the grace of God.

Was it through personal connections?

Yes. Personal connections.

Which is helpful.

Yes.

I feel like. DMs on Instagram. Sonya? Mm-hmm. Shout out Sonya.

Yes. Seriously. Lifesaver.

So did you know her prior?

I did not.

So how did you make that connection?

So the previous owners, um, when I had taken over, one of the things I was like, I cannot run every single thing on the back end and have machines running, because with embroidery there's always something going wrong. They're not easy machines to just get these hats whipped out. Um, and I think that's a big misconception in the hat world, like it does not take 3 seconds to decision. But, um, so I told them, I was like, before I take over, I really need some valuable employees. And they were like, okay, we'll try and find someone. And they found Sonya. And I was like, okay, yeah, perfect. She's awesome.

So right off the bat?

Right off the bat. Yeah. Wow.

But, and then Emily, she DM'd me on Instagram and wanted to be a part.

Yeah.

That's awesome. Okay. So have you had to turn anybody away? Or fire anybody?

Fire? No, I haven't had that experience yet. Thankfully.

It sucks. Yeah, it's a sucky process.

But yeah, um, typically it's just like, oh, they're moving on to go to college, or, you know, they're— we don't need the help right now because we're not in busy season. And honestly, with Sonya— I know I'm gonna shout her out a lot, but she gets those hats stitched, and then I pretty much do everything else. And Emily also keeps the machines running and cleaning the hats. She's a big help too and a big asset to the team.

Yeah, wow, man, Sonia sounds like— yeah, the GOAT. Oh, okay, so question about marketing right now, like, what does y'all's marketing look like? Do y'all just primarily use social media?

Pretty much. Yeah.

Okay.

I don't run any ads right now. I think it's just time-wise, as far as like marketing, I'm having to do that when I can. And I would really like to shift in the future to like get away from the backend of things. Like I always want to be super involved, but when I am able to just like really focus on the things that I love to do. And making, you know, the hats look cute in videos or whatever. But right now I'm like answering emails all during the night, talking with different manufacturers and just trying to do all the research I can, packing orders, sending invoices, running our website.

So is majority of your like revenue from wholesaling?

Well, so the first 2 and a half years or 2 years of business, yes. And then I know this is crazy, but Christian and I, we were like, man, we— after looking at numbers from the last 2 years, we were like, we really need to up the retail world. And that's just kind of what I love because you have that one-on-one connection with them. They're repping your brand. They bought from you, whereas the wholesalers are buying from their own companies. And so we were just like praying to God, please send us a product, put a product on our mind or a sign for us to up this retail world. And he did, he provided, and we released those mock necks and the retail just went crazy. And so I don't know, right now it's probably pretty even. Um, we do still ship out a ton of wholesale, But retail's definitely growing, which is awesome. That's what I love. Yeah, the retail part.

And that's the hats that y'all design, right?

Yes.

Like the one you're wearing.

Yes.

I love that hat. Are y'all selling that one right now?

Yes, it drops today. Oh, 10 AM. So it already dropped today.

What is today? Today's April 23rd. This won't be here for another couple of weeks, but that's okay. So you can buy it right now. Yeah. So have you ever ran ads before? You mentioned something about it.

Yeah. I think I ran one.

Okay.

And I canceled it immediately. I'm very frugal.

Yeah.

And so just because I have to be right now, like, I'm in the process of growth. I haven't paid myself in 3 years.

Yeah.

And so I'm—

yeah, I know the feeling.

Yes. So I'm just like putting money into the company to grow.

So, so I have a buddy who he's actually He lives in Lubbock and they have a hat operation. That's all I'm gonna say. But they do pretty much only ads to sell. And so like, they'll put in like $40,000 a month in Facebook ads and they'll generate like $90,000 in revenue from these ads.

That's crazy. So maybe look into it.

Maybe eventually. I feel like it would be worth considering. I usually don't say that. Like, I'm usually kind of more, more of the anti-Facebook ad because it often is a waste of money. But whenever you have a dope product, like if I had a product, I'd probably be running ads because you can sell that thing anywhere. So I don't know, that was just a side thought.

Yeah.

And that's good. If you ever want to connect with that person, let me know.

Yeah.

Okay, so let's move on. I always like to ask our guests about AI. Um, being Gen Z, do you use AI within your business?

Yeah, so I definitely utilize it in the email department for sure. It helps so much. Um, I have a Gmail account and I can just click— Paul, I'll write it out and then click Polish and it's like perfect. Okay, yeah, yeah, I never— I always double-check it because it's like sometimes. Yeah, but I write it and then polish it. But yeah, I definitely utilize it. And then I use it for some graphics for Instagram. Like, um, for instance, I dropped this and it was like I put engrave butter, engrave like this new color, I don't know, in butter, and it did that. So yeah, stuff like that.

Have you ever used it like if you have a picture, if you're like, okay, I have this new hat idea, say you want to take this God Is Good hat, you can take a picture of it and then tell it to basically make you like an ad style graphic or like, yeah, like it's shot in a studio and it'll take that hat and put it into like, it'll look like a professional product photo.

Yeah.

Have you ever done that type of stuff?

I actually, with this collection, I was like, I took a picture of it and I'm like, delete the background and make it a product image.

Um, did it turn out good?

It turned out okay. It's just a little blurry. Um, but the background's just solid white and I liked that, so I did use it.

Okay. Anything else? Not really. Okay. Yeah, just because some people go crazy with it. Yeah, some people don't use it at all. Like, some people— there's honestly a lot of people around Abilene who don't use it, like they don't even really know what ChatGPT is. Yeah, it blows my mind because I use it so much.

But I use it too, like just on the daily, like questions. I have people DMing me like, what is blah blah blah? And I'm like, let me look that up. I'm, I'm just a girl running this company. I don't know.

Yeah, yeah, in this world. I love it. Okay, so being the, the leader of an organization, a business like yours, whenever you're in a leadership role, vision and like the future of the company, I feel like is crucial. It literally says it in Proverbs, where there's no vision, the people perish. And so that is something that I try to live by and try to always maintain that vision. And lead whoever is helping me towards that same vision. So what does your vision look like for Worthy Hat Co.? Like in 2 years, in 5 years, in 10 years, like where do you see this thing going?

Yeah, so hopefully just continuing to grow and really pressing into the brand of Worthy Hat Co. Um, you know, we are in fast fashion, and so just evolving, continuously evolving of what's coming, what's in. And I really want to press into like quality over quantity. So in the years past, I would try and, you know, have 13 designs that I wanted, but that I wanted to release, but I didn't love every single 13 hats I was releasing. I loved like 5 of them. And so this year in 2026, I've really pressed into like If I would wear that, I want to sell it, not, oh, I want to do this to make the most profit out of it. And I think that's where a lot of brands go wrong.

Like, they'll pick the cheapest hat and throw the cheapest version of a logo on it and then sell it for as much as they can.

Yes, to make the most money. And I just want to get away from all of that and really press into the brand.

Okay. Those are great goals. So like, okay, 10 years from now.

Yeah.

And this wasn't in the questions, but I'm going to ask it anyways. 10 years from now, you look back on everything that you've built, Worthy Hat Co. What would be your definition of like success in your life personally? Like what, what is the ultimate goal of even having a business for you?

You know, the ultimate goal would have to be just being able to provide for my family, but have everyone involved in it. And it's just something so sweet to be able to raise my daughter in something that I love doing and hopefully that she grows up and loves just as much as I do. I think that's the goal. Just continuing to grow and evolve with my family alongside me.

Yeah. So how important has your family been in this whole journey so far?

Gosh. Yeah, it's without them. There's no way. I mean, some of my biggest customers, um, my brother works for Border States. We do their hats. They're pretty big customer. My dad played golf in a tournament and got like one of the AI facilities and he's a huge customer. My husband works at Taylor Electric. They're a huge customer. And so it's just my grandmother goes to church and hands out hats and always is like, that's my granddaughter's hat. And so it's just crazy. I wouldn't be here without them. And my mom's the whole reason why we started. And she's always like, because of Crumble Cookie. Yeah, because of Crumble Cookie. It's crazy. Um, yeah, she'll always drop off hats when she's coming to Abilene. Do you need me to drop off anything? So yeah, without them—

so, okay, so what about the spouse situation? Like, how has that been? Uh, because is he a business owner?

Well, so he used to cut hair for Texas Tech Athletics, but since we've moved back, he's, he's still Wants to dabble in cutting hair.

Like barber?

Yeah, like a barber. But he works at Taylor Electric.

Taylor Electric.

Okay.

So like, how has that relationship worked with you being running your own business and him not running a business? Is he involved very much? I'm assuming.

Yeah. So when I first started, he was very involved. We had no choice. Like he was having to help me pack orders and count hats and everything. And when I first got the shop, he was having to help me run the machines and all of that. But now he's really just involved in the back end of things. Like, he'll help me build a shelf, or if something breaks at the shop, he'll help. But as far as like shipping or cleaning hats, not so much anymore, thankfully.

Yeah. How has— how important has your spouse's support been?

Yeah. Having a husband that understands that this is my passion is awesome. Like, I couldn't do it without him. He's always my number one supporter in everything I do, and he's always like giving me input. Sometimes it's not something I want to hear, but I need to hear. Yes, it's great, but Yeah, but no, he's awesome.

I love it. I love it. Okay, I guess we'll just, we'll start wrapping things up. There was one question that I wanted to ask before that. What would you say the biggest piece of advice would be that you've ever received? Or that you could give to the viewers today?

Yeah, so Something that I received is just to start, you know, take that leap. That's the hardest part is starting and then being consistent going throughout. There'll never be the perfect time, never be the perfect scenario. You just have to start and continue to go on. And I think that's the biggest piece of advice I would give.

Yeah. And that can be applied to any area of life, like kids, for example. A lot of people that I know are waiting and waiting and waiting. They're like, oh, I want to have a half a million dollar house. I want to make $200,000 a year before I have kids. But what are you missing out on? Like, what, what was that opportunity that you could have had?

Yeah.

That you're not experiencing right now? Same thing goes with business and all the things. That's great, great advice. Thanks for coming on the podcast today.

Thanks for having me.

Where can people connect with you on social media?

Yeah, so our Instagram is Worthy Hat Co. Pretty much everything is Worthy Hat Co. Instagram and Facebook is where we're most active on.

Go check them out.

Yes.

Well, thanks for coming on.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

I hope you found some value listening to this episode. Make sure to go check out all the other episodes. We have tons of content. And wisdom and knowledge from business owners, people who are building organizations, all the things just like this one today. So go check out Worthy Hat Co. Check out the other videos and we'll see you in the next one. Peace.