Single Mom Puts Her Message In A Bottle and Grows a Thriving T-Shirt Business - Kalilah Wright

You're listening to Finances Demystified with Dominique Broadway, the podcast that provokes the conversation of money, demystifies all your finances, and shows you how to bring all of your dreams to reality so that you can live your very best life on your own terms. Hello and welcome back to another episode of Finances Demystified with Dominique Broadway. And of course, I am your host Dominique, and I am excited today for our special guest, and I'm excited because this amazing dynamic woman has done something that so many people have wanted to do, which is started a dynamic and awesome t-shirt business. So today we have Khalila Wright, and Khalila was born in Jamaica and raised in Brooklyn, New York. In January 2016, she founded Mess in a Bottle, which allows you to put messages on apparel that comes packaged in reusable Bottles. The brand was established to evoke change and allow individuals to be vocal without speaking at all.

I love it.

I love it. How are you today, Khalila?

I'm so good. Thank you so much for having me.

Thank you so much for being on. So I was really excited to chat with you just because I obviously, you know, met you in person recently. Um, and you're just, you have amazing energy and it's always so cool to see someone who has taken something they're passionate about and just turn it into not just a business, but a thriving business that not only, you know, is helping you to succeed financially, but also allowing other people to be able to, like you said, wear a message on their shirt or wear a message without speaking at all. So tell me, like, what made you start this business?

So I started Message in a Bottle during the time of like the Freddie Gray riots. I am from Brooklyn, New York, but I I live in Baltimore, Maryland, and I've been here for almost 10 years now. And the Freddie Gray riots happened, like, in my Baltimore City neighborhood. So there was just a lot of uproar rising. People were upset. People wanted to be vocal. People wanted to have something to say, as well as I was going through a bad divorce as well. And I think— and my son at the time, he was only 2 years old. And there was just a lot of emotions going through me that I really wanted to get out. And I felt voiceless. I felt like— I couldn't scream louder than I was screaming, and I wanted to wear a message. And that's really where the idea came about. I wanted to put something and wear things that would really express how I felt and without saying anything at all. And one day I was listening to a Chance the Rapper album, and I looked down at the screen because it was an unfamiliar song, and when I looked down at the screen, it was a message in a bottle, and it was his album called Surf. So it kind of it all connected and made sense. And I was like, this is my message. It's my message in a bottle. And I wanted to give this message to other people because I know they were feeling the same way, especially about things that were going on in our neighborhoods.

Wow. That's, that's a powerful, powerful way to start or purpose to start with. I love that. So when you kicked this off, like, what did it look like? Well, I guess first question, what's the very first message that you put on a shirt?

So the first message that I created was, it was a grill, like a woman with gold teeth at the bottom. And it was like, become like our classic signature t-shirt. And so that message wasn't a worded message, but what that message said was like, I am this refined woman, but I am still like street and don't mess with me. And you know, it really represented who I was, especially as a Black woman. Black woman, just like my strength and just still saying like, I am sophisticated, I am smart, but don't try me. And you know, this message, it's one without words, but it resonated with so many people.

I love it, I love it. So when you decided to start this, you know, whatever you're willing to share, like what did it take financially? Was it hard to get the first shirt produced? you feel like you were coming, you know, was it a lot of startup costs and kind of what did it take financially to get this off the ground?

So I started my t-shirt company with $500 and less. And I kind of tell everyone, you know, I'm really proud of that because I did not use a lot of startup capital. So what I did was, I know I wanted to create a t-shirt company. I'm not from the t-shirt industry, so I didn't have machinery. I didn't have like, you know, whatever tools needed. So what I did what I did do was I went to my local print shop and I saw the items that he used. I saw that they were using like heat presses, heat press machines. I saw that they were using vinyl cutters. And so what I did was I went on Craigslist. I went on Craigslist and I started to research these machines and I was able to buy a heat press machine for about $200, another, a vinyl cutter for about the same price. And then the last $100 I used to buy the t-shirts and the bottles. So I only started with about 10 t-shirts 10 bottles and that was the beginning of my t-shirt company and we started it in my living room.

I love it.

I love it.

So getting in, I guess getting the bottles. So I know you always wanted to be the shirt in the bottles. Did you actually start putting them in the bottles originally or did that kind of start, did that happen after you started selling more shirts and what was that?

No, so we started it in the bottle, but what I, you know, because I really didn't know what the company would shape up to be. So what I did was I went to IKEA and they had these glass bottles, and I was like, "Oh, this is perfect. The mouth is big enough to fit in a t-shirt." And I would vinyl cut and hand print and put on our logo onto these IKEA bottles. And it was a lot of work. It was a lot of work and it was a lot of time. But I realized at that point that I was hustling. And when I say hustle, it meant like I was running to local stores to obtain different brand t-shirts that were, you know, kind of low cost, as well as I would then go to IKEA. But once a bottle would be sold out, or, you know, once a t-shirt is out of the size that I need, then what? So I really, at that point when I realized there was a large demand, that's when I transitioned from hustling my business to really trying to make it an official business. So I started with very little startup capital, and I started with bottles and resources that I had access to.

I love it. And that's what, that's what, that's what real entrepreneurs do. They just kind of work with what they have. I love that. So did you, um, when I guess when you, when you did start, where did you, where were you selling these things that originally? I know now you have an awesome online store. Did you immediately jump to online or were you selling at like flea markets or, you know, where were you selling your items originally?

Um, so to kind of test market my product, I was selling at a lot of conferences and events. So I would vend at different conferences, street fairs, but I did start out with a website. And I started out with a website using the platform Big Cartel, and I recommend to everyone, you know, just starting out, Big Cartel was really good because Big Cartel, they allowed you to have 5 products for free, and that would be a free website, or you can have under 25 items for only $9.99. So that's how I launched my company, just using Big Cartel, creating a very simple website, and only hosting it for about $10 a month. So people would either see me vending or see me on social media, or they would then, and then they would go to the website to purchase.

Wow, I love it. So you've had your business now for 2 years, right?

Am I correct?

For 2 years. And you have— I mean, I see your shirts on celebrities and just all these awesome places. What do you feel like was the big turning point where your business took off? And do you feel like you're there yet? Like, you know, I think all businesses hit that point where it just kind of, you know, goes over the edge and then boom, it just kind of starts to skyrocket. Do you feel like you've hit that? And if so, What was that thing that took you there?

So I was featured about 1 year after starting. I was featured on TV with Mark Cuban. It was the Harry Connick Jr. Show and they had a segment about new entrepreneurs and I was fortunate the opportunity to be on television. So I think that that was a key moment in my career in which I was fortunate to be on national television. They would do reruns and I saw a huge spike in my orders. That was a really big turning point as well as, unfortunately, a very hard part of my business was that I was in an armed robbery about a year ago in November. And though that was something traumatic and I really wanted to close my business, a lot of my followers, celebrities, friends, people, posted what happened and I used that opportunity to turn it into something positive in which people really wanted to support me. So those were two very integral points in my career so far that have made a dramatic difference on my business.

Okay, and thank you for sharing that. And with that, you know, I'm sure that was a tough hit not just financially, but also mentally. And as you know, as entrepreneurs, like, we have to keep our mental in a good place to be able to handle all the challenges that we face on a daily basis. What did you do to kind of get through that? Was it like prayer, meditation? Was it just, you know, taking some time off? Like, what do you feel like really helped to get you back on track to continue to refocus and like continue to go forward with your business?

Um, You know, it was a very, very difficult time and still continues to be because I have to remind myself that it wasn't that long ago. It hasn't even been a year since that happened. But I allow myself to sit still, sort of. I'm like, anyone really listening and knowing this, they'll probably laugh. But me—

I'm actually laughing too. I'm like, I mean, I haven't known you that long, but I've I don't see you as a sit still person, but okay.

But when I say sit still, like almost mentally, you know, like, yeah, I'm continuing to go and I have to do things and I'm trying to accomplish things. I think when I say sit still, it means like kind of allowing, forgiving myself. And, you know, if it's a day that I truly need rest, I give myself that mental and physical, you know, I just say to myself, all right, enough's enough. And I might play with my son the whole day or, you know, or draw and color and just give myself a moment. But then I'm right back at it, 'cause I'm not one to really, you know, so I'll take a 45-minute break. So I'll say that. I'm not a rester, but I'll take a quick break and, you know, do some inhaling and exhaling. And I have a therapist. Like, I see someone. It was very traumatic, and I try to do all the right things to make sure that I'm not mentally, you know, suppressing what happened. But so many great things have happened, and I think it's due to the fact that I didn't allow it to kind of push me down and keep me down. And I talk about like how I feel about all of the things that are going on, and I think that has been really helpful as well.

Good, good. That's— it's great you took those steps because, you know, it is important to make sure you're, you know, kind of dealing with what happened instead of trying to suppress it, which is what a lot of people do.

Right.

So now that your business is up, it's doing well and obviously you're doing Mess in a Bottle full time, right?

I am for the last 2 years, 2 and a half years.

Wow, that's awesome. Congratulations. So how does, how does your business look now? I mean, it's, it's still focused, you know, you have, you know, the t-shirts, the t-shirts in a bottle, you have these awesome like fatigue, army fatigue jackets. Where do you see your business going? Are you scaling now and kind of what's the focus as you go, I guess, over the next 2 years and kind of from where you are now to over, I guess, over the next 2 to 5 years really?

So what I plan to do, we recently at Essence Music Festival in July, we launched the first ever Mess in a Bottle vending, t-shirt vending machine. So we're in the process of like rolling out vending machines. So this is one of the ways that we're scaling. So we're scaling via e-commerce, our wholesale accounts we're scaling as well, and then rolling out these vending machines that we plan to put in airports, concerts, hospitals. So we're in talks with a lot of different places to put the Mess in a Bottle vending machine.

Wow, that's awesome. And so with the vending machines, are you— I guess other than the vending machines, anything else like coming down the pipeline for Mass in a Bottle?

I mean, we have a trademark pending for our beverages. So maybe in the next 2 years or so we'll launch, you know, the first ever Mass in a Bottle juice. But we're slowly, like, we're expanding the brand. We're focused on retail. And we are possibly also, I started this entrepreneur journey doing baby items. And so many people have asked me for a really long time if I was gonna do kids, and I've said no for a very long time. But I think it is time, and we are exploring having a little, little mess. So we have different things that are in the pipeline, and a little mess, so this is our kids line, might be one that we'll be launching very soon.

I love that. That makes so much sense. People love it. The clothes for the kitties. That's cute. I like that a lot. So I guess from a financial standpoint, how have you been able to manage running the business but also your personal finances? How has that been? Have your personal finances taken a hit with starting a business? I know I always kind of talk about how, you know, me as an entrepreneur, I took a big hit, you know, starting my business. but, you know, were you able to kind of sustain yourself or what does that look like? And did you face any challenges as you were navigating that space as being, you know, full-time entrepreneur and also a mom?

So what I tell everyone is I think that you can start a business with no money, but I think that you need money and capital to grow a business. So some of the things that I've done is I've taken out Shopify and PayPal working capital loans and it is based on like the amount of monthly revenue. And we've been doing excellent with that. As well as, you know, I have employees now and so I pay employees. But what I will say is that we've definitely— I've taken a financial hit and I pay everyone first, pay, make sure all the bills are paid and then, you know, pay me. So it's been a struggle, but I went from, you know, starting this business with $500 and we, It's still my goal, but our goal for 2018 is to hit $500,000 in sales. So half a million dollars in sales. And we are fast approaching that. So I, you know, so financially I think that anyone can start a business, but I think to really grow and scale a business, you have to really manage your capital. So almost everything that we make in the shop goes back into the shop account, and that's what's used to grow the business.

That's great. That's great. Did you like raise any money or anything for your business or do you own, I guess, all of it?

I own my whole company. I did not raise any capital. I am very, very, very, you know, I try to be a little bit open-minded, but I am very leery about taking any money from anyone. I've had like maybe like one small crowdfunding, you know, type of event and people donated a couple of hundred $100 when I needed to, you know, equipment and to jumpstart. And I've also won a couple of pitch competitions, and I recommend those for anyone who is starting a small business because it's free money. It's free money, and it's a great easy way for you to be able to have exposure and for you to have money for your business. So I highly recommend pitch competitions, and yeah, and those were things that I did to financially support my company.

That's good. That's good. I love that you still own 100% of it. I think sometimes people are so quick and eager to raise money and not realizing all the, all the things that come along with, you know, giving up pieces of your business, but also having additional people to answer to, which can definitely change the purpose and mission of what you originally started.

Right. And I would say, I think for now, I'm still, I'm really proud of that. Um, the fact that I, you know, but I'm open.

Yeah, it could change.

Yeah, only because, you know, there's certain things that I want, um, especially with like the vending machine component or even beverages. Like, those are things that cost— they— you need real money, you know? Like, yeah, a lot of startup capital for those type of segments of your business. Um, and so I'll be interested, but for now I've told myself that I'm happy with where I am and I can build and grow out the t-shirt component, the apparel part, and then use that to really expand on these other parts of my business.

Awesome. So do you have, you know, as a mom, as entrepreneur, as a speaker, because I feel like I follow you on IG and you're always speaking somewhere as well. How are you managing your schedule? And then do you have any like things that you do daily or like daily routines or anything to kind of keep you on track?

Well, I'll say this. I'm definitely not the most strategic when it comes to— I'm really not. But what I am not, and I think that what's one of my assets, is the fact that I am not afraid to ask for help. So I have a great social media, especially Facebook community. So I'll put up on social media in a heartbeat if I need someone to help me check emails, help me. So we've hired people to do certain things, but if we We are overwhelmed and we're a small business. And you know, surprisingly enough, friends and family have really stepped in to help me with certain things that maybe I can't afford to pay someone yet. So you know, we get a lot of help with people doing things like that. And a lot of people, and what I realize is people want to see you win. So they'll volunteer their time. They might have a 9 to 5 and they, you know, might be bored every once in a while and they would like to help a small business. So they'll say, hey, I could check emails from, 9 to 12. And so doing those things have really helped and assisted my business and helped me. So, you know, the management of time. I may not be able to take my son to a movie on a Friday night, and that might be something that I want to do because I'm away speaking. So I might post it and I'll have a friend who says like, "Hey, me and my son are going." So, you know, I've allowed for me to create these pockets and spaces by getting help. And so I don't have daily regimens yet. I would like to. I mean, I try to meditate in the mornings. I've been creating some to-do lists and, you know, and I've just been asking for help. I would say those are— that's become my thing.

That's good. I love that you're asking for help. I think, you know, a lot of times entrepreneurs, we feel like we can do it all, but just understanding that the simple— just open your mouth and ask for something is powerful and it can really change and help you grow a lot quicker than trying to do everything on your own.

Right.

And kind of, you know, showing what those weaknesses are so other people can fill in. So I think that's great. So now that you're approaching, well, going to be hitting this half a million dollar a year mark, like probably the next couple of days. What I know now, you've created a course on how other people can create their own t-shirt company. It's called the Digital Teepreneur Class. I love that name. Can you tell us a little bit about that and what made you put that together?

Sure, so I created the space because I feel like it's a really good way for people, you know, I started this thing with my son on my back, you know, single mom in a room, you know, with the machine that I got from Craigslist. So I know that, and there's a lot of people searching for, you know, they're at home or they might be a stay-at-home mom or whatever it is, and they can be struggling and not knowing a good outlet in ways that they can make money. So I wanted to create a platform where people can learn from the mistakes I made, and you know, just trying to figure it out like I did. So if people go to the TEE Class, and that's T-E-E, so just theteeclass.com, and I've created courses and ebook as well as a couple of different classes in which people can learn how to start their own t-shirt company.

Okay, I love that. I love that. So we're going to put links to the tea class and also to the Mess in a Bottle t-shirt, Instagram, all that good stuff in the show notes as well. So before we wrap up, is there any, like, a quote or mantra that you live by or even just one of the favorite— your favorite messages that you've ever put on any of your apparel that you want to share with us?

So I think a hot item that is out right now, I have a t-shirt that says This woman gets— it's an explicit word, but it says, "This woman gets ish done, has no excuses." And it's one of my favorite shirts because I think just as a woman, you know, and a Black woman at that, we don't make excuses. We just get it done. And we keep on pushing every day. And so it says, "This woman figures this out, gives no excuses, and makes stuff happen." And I think that has been my force every day. Like, I don't take no as a true answer. I'm always hitting the pavement and making sure that I get it done no matter what. So I don't get— I give little excuses for why I cannot. And I just do. And I think that a lot of people— that's something that I really live by because I think everything is figureoutable.

That's good.

I agree.

Everything's figureoutable. And I know I try to get ish done all day, every day. So I'm a fan. Okay. Anything else that you want to share before we wrap up? This has been so, so good and so fruitful.

I would just say, if you can dream it, It can happen. I think that when I started this t-shirt company, I had no idea what it was going to become. And I think that a lot of people, you know, I thought my road was becoming an architect. But I'm realizing now, like, this was my passion. I was a designer and I was a creator all along. And this was now more my avenue. So I think that if everyone would stop doubting themselves and just really trying to do everything and anything that they think that they can do, they can probably— reach 10 times that. And that's something I've learned because I didn't know that this would blossom to where it is today. And it's even grown past the expectations of what I had for myself.

Wow, that's powerful. That's powerful. Well, hopefully everyone will take your advice. If they can dream it, they can do it and just get out of their own way. And I think you're a great example of that. So thank you so much for your time today. This has been great. I know it's gonna help so many people. So we're gonna go, like I said, we're gonna put the link to the class and the link to your website, stuff like that, in the show notes. So thank you, thank you, I can't even talk today. Thank you again for joining us, and we will be back very soon with another episode of Finances Demystified. So we will see all of you soon. Bye!