Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses Joins Up His Dots

Sockratescustom Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast

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Socratescustom Founder Samuel Moses

We all use them, most of us dont think much about them, but we buy more and more when we can only find one in the washing.

Yes socks are one of those business ideas that almost seem obvious as they are all around us everyday.

With a passion for entrepreneurship from a very young age, Samuel is the Founder and CEO of Sockrates Custom Socks, a company based in Boca Raton Florida which
specializes in producing the highest quality custom socks at the fastest turnaround time.

With over 4000 clients, Sockrates has emerged as the industry leader in its field with clients in the United States, Germany, France, Iceland, UK, Israel and Canada.

After graduating from the prestigious Schulich School of Business in Toronto, Ontario, Samuel worked for an Investment Banking consulting group where he was responsible
for presenting research and findings to key C level decision executives within the banking industry around the world.

Next he became a partner of an established market research firm in Toronto where he consulted on studies for companies spanning from 50 million in revenues to the Fortune 500.

Which doesnt seem the most natural stepping stones to launching your own hi quality sock business.

So how did he first come up with the idea and dip his toes into the water of fashion items?

And where has been the biggest struggles as he takes on the might of Walmart and the like?

Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr Samuel Moses.

Show Highlights

During the show we discussed such weighty subjects with Samuel Moses such as:

Why its such a great idea to niche down in a business and go deeper and deeper until yo find the gold waiting for you.

Samuel shares the emotional rollercoaster he went through to get his sock business off the ground.

We discuss the process of making your mistakes when orders are low, before scaling up with confidence in your system.

and lastly…….

Why entrepreneurship is so ingrained in some people but is it truly a case of nature or nurture ?

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If you enjoyed this episode with Socratescustom , why not check out other inspirational chat with Shawn Shewchuk, Tosca Reno,  Innovation Expert and the amazing Andie McDowell

Full Transcription Of Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses Interview

Intro [0:01]
Life shouldn’t be hard life should be a fun filled adventure every day. So now start joining up dots tap into your talents, your skills, your God given gifts and tell your boss, you don’t deserve me. I’m out of here. It’s time for you to smash that alarm clock. And start getting the dream business and wife you will, of course, are dreaming of. Let’s join your host David route from the back of his garden in the UK, or wherever he might be today with another JAM PACKED episode of the number one hit podcast. Join Up Dots.

David Ralph [0:41]
Good morning to you. Good morning to you and welcome to Join Up Dots. Thank you very much for being with us once more. Do you know we all use them? And most of us don’t think much about them. But we buy more and more when we can only find one in the washing. What is it? What is it? Yes, socks, and socks are one of those business ideas that almost seem obvious as they’re all around us every day. But I don’t know many people that would have thought of actually starting a sock business. Now with a passion for entrepreneurship from a very young age. Today’s guest is the founder and CEO of sock gritties see what he did there. custom socks, a company based in Florida, which specialises in producing the highest quality custom socks at the fastest turnaround time. Now we have over 4000 clients Socrates has emerged as the industry leader in its field with clients in the United States, Germany, France, Iceland, UK, Israel, and Canada. Now you would have said, but he’s always been involved in Sox button up. After graduating from the prestigious Schulich School of Business in Toronto, Ontario, he worked for an investment banking consulting group where he was responsible for presenting research and findings to key C level decision executives within the banking industry and around the world. Next, he became a partner of an established market research firm in Toronto, where he consulted on studies for companies spanning from 50 million in revenue and news to the fortune 500. Now, of course, as we say, it doesn’t seem the most natural stepping stones to launching your own high quality sock business. So how did he first come up with the idea and dip his toes into the water of fashion items? And where has been the biggest struggles as he takes on the might have, I suppose Walmart on the like bat sell socks? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr. Samuel Moses. Good morning, Sam, how are you?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [2:37]
Good morning. Good morning, and thanks for having me on.

David Ralph [2:39]
It’s lovely to have you. So you into socks, you know, I’m wearing a pair of socks at the moment. I spend most of my time trying to match socks up. There’s there must be you know, a million times but we’ve looked at these things. Why don’t people think of making a sock business like you?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [2:57]
Yeah, definitely. It’s a funny, it’s an interesting question. Because I get this a lot a lot of people, when they ask me what I do, and I tell them, I do custom socks, they’re surprised because obviously, it’s a product that everybody’s wearing every day, all day. But it’s not a product that they think about as a business that they can go into. And I tell them that within the sock world, it’s a very large world, and there’s lots of different it’s like one big pie and you got to go get your little slice of the pie, right. So not only are we in Sox, but we’re in a specific little niche within Sox, which is called the custom sock world, which is a b2b sock, custom sock player, where we sell only to companies. So you know, companies come to us, we designed the socks with our in house design team, we get their logo on the sock, you know, say Dell, or you know, Microsoft, we get the logos on the sock, they like it and then we put a label on it, which is branded to them. So it’s kind of like we’re making sock brands for all all, you know, all these companies around the world, which is interesting. So again, it’s a small little niche within the big pie of socks, you know, so that’s our that’s our position.

David Ralph [4:09]
Well, that’s it, that’s where every position shouldn’t should patient a niche down niche down as we say, you know, and it I’ve worked for many, many companies, Sam, but I don’t think any of them have said, I tell you what we’re doing. We’re doing our own branded socks is never occurred. So is this a new thing? Are companies doing this for their employees? Well, why are they looking for branded socks?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [4:32]
It became popular around five to six years ago, in the tech world, the tech company started to you know, they would do a round of financing and the first thing they would do is brand socks for their employees. It was kind of like it was kind of like the way in Silicon Valley. So when I started this business about five years ago, there were three to four of us players in the in the in the space. And there was you know, it was it was very easy. To get orders just because, you know, you were wondering, you know, three or four companies who specialised in this, they would find you. And now this may be, you know, 18 to 20. So again, within that little slice of custom socks, you got to find your niche within the niche, you know, you have to find what makes you special in custom sock. So that’s been the road over the past five years. But definitely five years ago to today, there’s been a huge ramp up, and lots of popularity around it.

David Ralph [5:27]
I like the fact that you say niche. I used to say niche, but I’ve been kind of tainted from conversations across the pond. So I say niche now but niche. Yeah, yeah, Nisha is the way to go. Now, I think one of the things you know, one of my bugbears is in our house, we all wear black socks, and I keep on saying to my wife, why don’t I wear green socks? And my kids wear yellow socks? And then it’d be so easy to match up. What am I missing? Sam, you’re an expert in socks? Why can’t we make this matching up of socks easier than standing by windows? Try to hold them up to the light to see the right ones?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [6:08]
Well, I like to tell people we’re in business because people lose their socks. Right? If everybody didn’t lose their socks, yeah, we wouldn’t have a lot less business. So the losing of the socks is definitely from a sock provider perspective. And

David Ralph [6:21]
I’m gonna jump in, because that’s profound. Why do we lose socks? Where did they actually go?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [6:27]
That’s, that’s the age old question of where the socks go, I’m not sure I have a lot of socks, as you can imagine. And I struggle with the same thing of matching them up. But then at the same time, I have people who have given one pair of socks to like five years ago. And they come up to me and they’re like, we keep it, you know, he keeps it super organised. And he’s obsessed with the socks. And he like he knows where they are at all times. So I think it’s a personality thing. Some people are just really on top of it as it from an organisational standpoint, and some people are not

David Ralph [6:59]
probably used to washing machine isn’t it, you can put them in the washing machine, you know they’ve gotten an F, but they then they don’t come out.

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [7:06]
They don’t come out? No. There’s definitely some phenomenon going on where socks have been lost quite a bit. But our job is to make very high quality socks. Your job is to make sure that you don’t lose the sock, if you do lose the sock will be there for the company to redo it, you know,

David Ralph [7:23]
now with your business, when did it first come to the fore and, and tell us the steps no pun intended that you took because I think most people, they come up with an idea. They think it’s brilliant. They sleep on it, they wake up, they think it’s stupid, then they start to sort of do their market research. And they see that other people are doing it. And then they sort of drift away from it. They think Oh, other people are doing it. I can’t make it happen. So tell us the steps you took? Yeah, there’s

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [7:51]
what you were touching on what you were saying. There’s definitely an emotional process that you go through when you come up with a business idea. And it’s highs and lows. Is it good? Is it bad? But our process was I had a very high end retail store man’s a high end retail store in Toronto in the financial district. You know, we’re all the investment bankers and the lawyers and the insurance professionals are selling neckties in that world. We were in, you know, primarily neckties over there was a very good business. And it was you know, late 2000 and 10s. Sorry, late 2000, late 2000s, early 2000 and 10s. And I noticed that the customer that was coming into my store to buy these high end neckties and to buy the pockets, where is it to buy these type of products like bow ties, it was a very specific type of customer, they were executives, you know, maybe it’s skewed to a higher net income, it was primarily male. And I and I looked at the area and you know, hundreds of 1000s of people walking around and I said wait a minute, you know, why can’t we service? Why can’t this store service everybody else? You know, why is it so hard for people to come in here. So at that time, I you know, I just recently gotten married, my wife was in advertising. And we decided that we’re going to start selling this product, it was called Happy socks in the store happy socks, it was a brand. From Sweden. It’s a very popular brand around that in 2013. And we brought it in and we actually became the number one seller of happy socks probably in the city, or maybe even Ontario, maybe to the whole province. And we were selling these things like you wouldn’t believe but what I noticed was everybody was coming in, right? Like I like to say from the CEO, to you know, entry level, you know, everybody was coming in women men, older be grandparents, kids, everybody would come in and buy this product and made the store so much more accessible

David Ralph [9:38]
and why it’s just I’m struggling with this. Why not? What made happy socks, so needed.

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [9:44]
You know, it was this colourful approach to the sock which was relatively new. They had created this space of like, you don’t have to wear black socks anymore. What do these socks say about your personality, which is the foundation of Socrates you know, what does sock say about your personality? You know, it was the first time that you can put these bright colours or it was the first time anybody went into a business where all they did was bright colours. And the it was just very successful people were coming in buying 1015 20 at a time, and then coming back the next day and picking up another half a dozen, and we had this tree, it was like a Christmas tree in the front of the store. And it held about 800 pairs of socks, and people would just be coming in going around the tree around the tree. And we’d be refilling that tree every couple of days. And it was just like, wow, we cannot, we cannot slow this down the selling of the product is unbelievable. And that led me to my next step where I said, you know, what, why am I buying it from happy socks? Why don’t I create my own brand? You know, and why don’t I create my own designs? And why don’t I create my own, you know, following and, you know, we went to China, we found a provider for that at that time we were producing in China. And we’ll tell you how we produce now. And I created my own brand called Socrates, we brought it in, and everybody loved it, it was like, you know, because we really were picky about the quality, we were really picky about the fit. And we were really picky about the type of designs that we that we offered. And you know, nobody missed happy socks in our store. They love the Socrates brand. And then what happened was the natural thing was all these companies who were downtown Toronto, it’s all financial firms, it’s all big companies. They came in and they said, You know what, Sam, I’m gonna trade show who makes the socks? So I said, you know, we produce the socks, they’re like, can you design me a sock with my logo on it, you know, my logo is Microsoft, can you put Microsoft logo on this with the Microsoft colours, and I want to give it out to my customers, I want to be Socrates in your store, but I want to give it out to my customers with my brand. And our designers went to work and we did it. And I thought that was a great business, you know, we get paid, and we ship and, and we put in other people’s brands on this product. And they were doing quite big runs, you know, from 250 pairs to, you know, 10,000 pairs, the runs were very large. And they were very appreciative of it. And what we noticed was after they were giving out the sock, the people that they were giving the sock out to, were really, really appreciative of it. And, you know, that was amazing. I’m like, wow, they really love the product. And they really love the fact that Microsoft or whatever company, it is Google or Dell, or any small company, even a small dentist office, anybody, when they gave them the sock with their branding, they were really appreciative because it’s actually something they’re going to use, people are going to use the sock, they’re not going to throw it out, they’re not going to, it’s not just going to sit there, it’s gonna they’re actually a product they’re gonna use. So there are times that even years later, they’re wearing the sock and they think about the company that the game that gave it to them. And they’re like, oh, yeah, thanks for that sock, I remember we met at that trade show, and you gave me a sock, and it just kind of like gets them going about brand recognition. So it was a very powerful promotional tool, very, very powerful tool. And we’ve now exited retail, and that we focus only on custom socks. from a global standpoint, we ship all over the world, I could get into it more, but we only produce in Italy now, which is a very high quality production that we do. And we brought out this new to the market idea of seven day turnaround time. And we brought out to the market, this new idea of any colour, so we don’t stock colours, we match to the exact brand colours. So you know, we’ve really, really sophisticated the process and streamlined it to be able to scale this business. And you know, we’ve seen a tremendous response from, from from clients all over the world. So it’s it’s pretty exciting run that we’ve been on.

David Ralph [13:25]
So let’s sort of clarify this, because there was a lot of information to sort of unpack there. So basically, you were selling a product that was going great guns, most people might have gone, this is brilliant. We’re selling this product, but you’re looking at it thinking, well, actually, there’s more. There’s more margin to be gained from this. Let’s actually do our own version of Happy socks. Now. Let’s just dig into that bit. How did you do that? How did you go? Right? Okay, who make socks? Okay, we have to go to China. No, do China do? How did you do this sort of steps to finding the right sort of supplier?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [14:03]
Yeah, so at that time, we were selling happy socks. We were producing in Italy, all our neckwear. So we had experience there. I didn’t want to go to Italy. I thought the price point would be a little bit too high for us at that time. I don’t think it would have been but at that time, I thought it was. So you know, the only thing you’re dealing with China is great. And it’s, you know, if you know what you’re doing is pretty good. The only thing is you need the minimum. So we had the minimums because we knew what we were selling with the happy socks. So we knew we could hit these minimums. And we knew we can get this into a warehouse and then shipped to us from the warehouse because, you know, obviously our small store in downtown Toronto can house you know, 50 100,000 pairs. So we interviewed, you know, through a process about three to four sock companies out there. And we went through a process of the specific type of sock that we wanted and the quality and we sampled and we did many, many designs. It was a long process. It took about three to four months to get the right production

David Ralph [14:58]
partner. That doesn’t seem long to me. That’s,

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [15:01]
yeah, that’s I guess that’s reasonable to think about it, we knew we knew a lot about the product. So we had, we had a head start from a lot of people who just maybe wake up one day and want to go into a certain type of business. We just knew the product really well, because we had sold, you know, hundreds of 1000s of pairs at that point. And we knew what people liked and what they did it and we knew the designs that were selling better than others, you know. So we found the supplier, and we did a test run, a smaller test run. And, you know, there were mistakes, there were definitely mistakes in the early days, with the sizing, there were mistakes with the consistency and the labelling, and then you go through the process of making your mistakes, and then eventually, you know, your error rate starts to come down to the point now where, you know, you know, we’re under, we’re under about 1%. So for every 100 orders, or 200 orders, you know, maybe one comes back, maybe you know, so there’s a process there. And there’s a lot of experience, and you can’t rush that, like, there’s gonna be mistakes, there’s going to be things that happen, you just have to keep pushing, a lot of people get discouraged. And definitely we got discouraged, I got discouraged a lot, I would think about a lot. But if you keep pushing, and you keep, you know, making adjustments and tweaks, you’ll get to the right answer. And if you’re patient with it, and you’re you’re diligent to keep going, then you’ll you’ll get there, you know,

David Ralph [16:13]
that say if I’m Oprah, we’d be back with Sam, the way

Oprah Winfrey [16:17]
through the challenge is to get still and ask yourself, what is the next right move? not think about, oh, I got all of this. What is the next right move? And then from that space, make the next right move, and the next right move, and not to be overwhelmed by it? Because you know, your life is bigger than that one moment. No, you’re not defined by what somebody says, is a failure for you. Because failure is just there to point you in a different direction.

David Ralph [16:48]
Now, you were talking about being discouraged, and versus sort of early mistakes. And as Oprah was saying, they’re but they’re just indicators to point you to a stronger product or a stronger future. When you were feeling discouraged. Did you have a mentor? Did you have a partner? Or did you just have to suck it up and get through it yourself?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [17:10]
Definitely, I had, I had a, I had somebody who started the business with me, she was actually the manager of my retail store. And she came with me into this business. And she was kind of like the exact opposite of me. She’s the creative side, she’s you know, she’s into that. She’s into the design side, I’m more, you know, I’m more into the business side. And to be able to run ideas through her was incredibly, was incredibly helpful. Also my wife, you know, she works in advertising. She probably at one point was very sick about hearing about socks, and we talked about it so much. But she was really helpful. She’s great. She just really good at like, pushing back and saying, wait a minute, what about this? What about this and looking at things from a different perspective. And that was incredible. And then obviously, you know, in my life, I’ve always gone to my father for advice. So you know, I talked to him every night. And, you know, he gives me a little a good overview of things in a way that nobody else really does have, like, definitely a more mature perspective. And definitely, you know, some risk averse, you know, making sure that are making the right decisions, not rushing things.

David Ralph [18:12]
But that you have done yet those compensation, same with your parents and your family where you’ve been? You don’t know, you don’t know, you don’t know what I’m going through. So I don’t need you advice. Do you do get those?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [18:25]
I try not to go there. No. First of all, that would not hold up with my wife at all. But second of all, no, I try to listen to them, I try to listen, especially in my she’s now the head of design. I always I always take into account what she’s saying. Because she’s she’s very clear that she thinks very differently than me. So sometimes it helps a lot. And maybe she doesn’t know exactly what I’m going through as the business owner. And maybe nobody does. You’re right. But at the same time, these people are here to help me and they’re taking the time to help me so I gotta, I gotta listen. But you’re riding away, like, nobody really knows what the business owner is going through. Nobody really feels that. But, you know, especially with the head of design, she’s with me on this journey. So my success is her success. So if anybody can kind of connect with it, it’s her, you know,

David Ralph [19:09]
because I don’t I run a five or six businesses now. And I don’t say a word when I get home, because they’re just not interested. And it’s so passionate about it yourself. It used to annoy me, that I’d be listening to their conversations about their day. And then when I started, you could see themselves like just blank out. Yeah, and I find that with a lot of people, the people that give me the most of advice have no idea. It’s like I always say the world’s greatest parent, or people that haven’t had kids. And once I had kids I go actually yeah, you right is not as easy as I thought. So how do you bat off this? This is interesting to me. So how do you bat off the advice givers who are actually never started a business have no idea Dear, but I’ve got all the answers.

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [20:01]
Yeah, no, definitely. I mean, because I’m thinking about this business all day. So when somebody comes up to me, and says, Oh, hey, Sam, I had an idea for you. And the idea is so far fetched with insights, and nothing to do with what I’m doing. You know, sometimes, you know, the long at the end of a long, hard day, I want to kind of like snap back and be like, Do you have any idea what you’re talking about, like, you know, but listen, they had good intentions, and try, you know, try to help me grow. Definitely, that advice at that moment is probably not going to help me grow at all. But everybody has their ideas, and everybody comes to you and shoots you ideas, because when you tell them socks, all of a sudden, their mind is like, hey, why don’t you do this at a sock? And why don’t you do this in a sock, and I’m like, you know, these aren’t exactly Game Changer ideas. But, you know, I appreciate the advice. But you’re right, you, as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, you know, this, you know, you run five businesses, you’re carrying a lot with you, you know, you’re just carrying it all day, every day. All of this, you know, strategy, and all of this, you know, operational, operational stuff with you, as you go through your day, you know, and you know, HR and accounting and bills, you got to pay, and marketing and sales and clients and production, and you know, that you just carried it all with you. You definitely need some outlet. So, for me, you know, one of my outlets is these people, my wife, you know, I do outlet to her quite a bit, it’s definitely slowed down as the business has grown as we built a team. So I try to not, I do what you do. Now, I don’t talk too much at home, because I think there’s too much for them. Yeah. And also, they want to change the subject a lot. And, and, and I have, you know, I have people I can trust that I go to so, but definitely what you’re saying is 100% Correct. I feel that like you’re definitely carrying a lot with you as you go throughout your journey of building a business.

David Ralph [21:46]
I wonder, I really wonder at times, and then I sort of forget about it. And then I come back to it. Why we’re so passionate about building our own futures, where the majority of people and I say the majority, because it feels like the majority, are just quite happy to give their futures away to somebody else, and help them build their businesses. I can’t ever get an answer, Sam, why? It seems so fundamentally wrong to do that. Where for 25 years, I was doing that I was a corporate guy, I went to a job and then the the penny dropped, the switch was switched, and I just can’t go back. Why do you think that we are so passionate nowadays?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [22:29]
That’s a That’s a good question. I’ve been thinking about that a lot. You know, I for me, and it sounds like for you as well. I think in a lot of ways I was just you know, my wife says I was born for this. I was born to run my own business. My father told me a story. One time it was in a restaurant, I would think I was six or seven years old. And I was asking the waiter you know, which which drink? Do you sell more of the coke or the Pepsi, I was always interested in business and the specific details of business, you know, and I was an umpire. And I was, you know, when everybody else was playing baseball, I was out there writing my own like umpire business, you know, umpiring the games, trying to make a few bucks on the side. And yeah, you know, selling I owned the vending machines in my high school. And I just there was something always about it. And it wasn’t only the money making money, it was about just the idea that you could, you know, bring value and make sales, the idea of making sales was interesting to me, you’re doing something that other people are valuing. And they’re willing to part with their money to trade with you for the for the good that you produced. It’s just, there was something really interesting about it. But, you know, the businesses I did as, as a young kid, compared to now obviously, this sophistication is gone through the roof. But it started at a young age, like, my friend always says, good friend, it’s like, you know, you weren’t, you weren’t. You didn’t just come in to nowhere, I just wake up one day and say, hey, I want to I want to run my own business. I’ve been doing that since I was a little kid in the in the sandbox. So I think for me, it was like just something that made it within me, I never really had that passion to work for a big company or anything like that. I always wanted to run my own company, big or small. I just always wanted to run my own company. And, and that’s something that I just pursued, you know, after I came out of business school just went just went for it. You know, so

David Ralph [24:07]
million dollar question, nature or nurture. Do you think ultimately?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [24:12]
Yeah, I think it’s, I think, you know, I know it’s a cop out answer a little bit. It might be a little bit of both, you know, nurture. It has to be nurtured over time. And my parents, definitely, they they like, they provided me with such a great platform to take this desire that I had to run a business and they just went with everything. You know, they’re like, Okay, you want to paper out, okay, you want to run the vending machines, okay, you want to do that? Like they just didn’t say no to anything to the point where I was, like, free to run these businesses and they were so supportive and so helpful to me, so they nurtured it. So they got me to the point where I could just be have the confidence to do it on my own. But I think there was something to say about being born with that because I see, I noticed, you know, I thought everybody was like me at like, you know, 10 years old. I thought everybody was like me, of course everybody wants to run their own business. And then I started to realise that actually, mostly but don’t want to do that. And that’s okay. You know, that’s okay. They shouldn’t have to do that that’s, you know, keeps it less competitive for guys like us. Right? So it’s Yeah, I think it’s a little bit of both, I think you need both. But I think you do need that fire from the beginning of, I really want to run my own business. Because otherwise, I’m not sure if you’re gonna make it through. It’s hard. It’s really hard. There’s a lot of stumbling blocks, there’s a lot of roadblocks, there’s a lot of ups and downs. And if you don’t have that fire of running your own business and building something on your own, if you don’t have that, you might just, you know, cop, you might just stop at some point, you know, so no, definitely, I think it’s a combination of both. What do you think?

David Ralph [25:37]
I’m glad you asked me because I, I’ve been pondering this a lot. And I think I’m neither, I think I’m just kind of somewhere in the middle. Linked to kind of revenge, basically, I think there’s the biggest point of me is to prove others wrong. And I’ve discussed this on his podcast quite a lot. Where I realised that growing up, I was always the person that no one really expected much from. And I think I got to a point where it was our birthday. So enough, I’m going to do it, you know, so I don’t think it was nature or nurture with me, it was just to say, Yeah, you didn’t think I could do this? Watch me.

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [26:20]
Okay, so it was kind of like a, an internal competition that you wanted to, you wanted to compete with yourself to make sure you know, you could do it, you know, no

David Ralph [26:27]
internal, I think it’s an external competition. I think there’s certain individuals out there, but even if I don’t know it, I’m competitive against them, you know, I look at them and their achievements and their benchmarks and stuff. And I sort of work accordingly. So, yeah, he’s a hell of a journey you go through. Now, one of the parts of the journey as well is, and this interests me a lot, is that personal belief, when you suddenly realise you’re in control, and you’re in control of your time, you’re in control of your money, you’re in control of every decision. And you know, I was in traffic today, I went out for a drive freezing cold in United Kingdom. And it was about 10 o’clock, blue skies, really lovely day, but bitterly cold. And I was in traffic. And you could see everybody was getting slightly annoyed, because I had to be somewhere, and I just sat there for I don’t have to be anywhere. I’m just totally, you know, in the moment of however long it takes, that’s fine. I can deal with it, I sort things out. Did you have that moment when you suddenly realised that actually, this isn’t a business I’m building, this is a lifestyle, I can really control my life and make the decisions to make my life what I want?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [27:44]
Yeah, no, I had that moment. I mean, when I exited retail, you know, and I kind of was like, oh, you know, we don’t have these heavy rents. And we don’t have to stock the store. And we don’t have to be in Toronto, and we don’t have to worry about one person showing up to an office to the to the store to run the store. And we moved into this business where it was a global business. I was like, you know, I can work from anywhere and I can, I could, you know I can I can outsource the things that I want to outsource that I don’t want to do. And I can, you know, really focus on the things that I do want to do, there was definitely a moment where I was like, This business is great. Because of that, because of the control that you’re talking about, you have control over the type of business you want to take, you have control over the type of people you want to hire, you have control over the money you want to spend and the systems you want to build. And, and because the response of the clients had been so good, it provides us with the opportunity to invest back into the, into the systems and to making the process better for the client experience. And that’s what we’re all about, we just want the experience from from the first touch of the client when they come to us for custom socks, to when they get the socks and even afterwards should be the best possible experience. So we’re fully invested in that. But we’re in control of that. Whereas in the retail store environment, just the nature of how it was, I just didn’t feel as in control. I felt like you know, other people were dictating to me how I had to run the store. Other people dictate to me how we had to spend the money and we couldn’t we didn’t didn’t have the money to invest the way that we wanted to. So definitely this business provides us with that. And yeah, sometimes you’re right, I’m in traffic, and I’m like, It’s okay. It’s okay. If I take an extra 15 minutes, you know, I’m probably still thinking about my business anyway. But at least you know, I’m not in a rush to get somewhere. For the sake of getting somewhere, right? I need to I need to really focus on maybe more high level stuff in the business. So I know for sure that I’ve had that moment. And it’s a really, it’s a really amazing moment where you’re like, wait a minute, you know, this business, I can take it where I need to take it to, with the people that I have and build around it. And we’re in control of that and nobody else is dictating to us, you know, what we should do or what we should not do? You know,

David Ralph [29:47]
it’s a moment isn’t it? It’s just, it is it’s like a light bulb goes on in your head that you think Christ. I’m only on this planet once and I have to make it As best I possibly can. And that’s what the weld doesn’t? Do. They just give it away to someone.

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [30:08]
Yeah, yeah, no, definitely. That’s it’s huge, you know that that lifestyle thing that you’re talking about is is huge. And it’s important and it but it has to be earned, right, you have to work really, really, really hard to get it. And once you get it, you have to work really, really, really hard to keep it. But you enjoy it because of that, because you have that lifestyle, because you have the control of your of your business. You know,

David Ralph [30:29]
now, you said something back, probably about two minutes ago, but you didn’t have the money to invest in the business at that time. And how are you with that, because that is something that a lot of people struggle with, they struggle with paying for marketing, they struggle with buying stock, they struggle with that risk taking, putting money into the business, even if it looks like there’s a good win, they’re gonna get it back, it’s still scary times. How do you overcome that? Yeah, no,

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [31:03]
definitely went through a process with that as well. You know, you’re buying hundreds of $1,000 of inventory, and you’re putting them on the walls, and you’re just kind of hoping that it sells and you you do think it’s going to sell but but that that, you know, we actually have to wire the funds, or we actually have to make that purchase. It’s a very nerve racking purchase. And I think what happens over time, we had that store for 12 years, you know, we’ve had, we had a bunch of stores for 12 years, you know, you get used to it, I mean, it’s a risk that you just have to adjust to because you’ve done it so many times. And every time you there is a little bit of fear there. I remember all the all the product would show up and I’m like, this is a lot of stuff we have to sell, you know, and I’m like, my wife would be like, Oh, you guys had a good day, you know? And she’s like, where’s the money? You know? And I’d say, I think it’s on the walls in the store. It’s not in my pocket, right? So no, definitely, definitely, it’s a process. This is a big mental game, you have to stay calm, and you have to make good decisions. And you have to believe that the decisions that you make are good ones, because and you have to also make decisions where the wrong decision can’t wipe you out. So you have to be smart about it. Right? So you have to you have to assume that it’s 50 5050, it’s going to work 50 It’s not going to work. But if it doesn’t work, make sure it doesn’t wipe you out. And if it does work, keep going. Right? So

David Ralph [32:16]
because because I’ve lost track of the amount of business owners I have spoken to over the last 10 years, but will openly admit that there was periods of their business, but they were the only ones not earning the stock were earning the contractors were earning, but they just didn’t have the cash flow through the business. And so they held back themselves.

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [32:38]
Yeah, no, definitely. I don’t know. I don’t know any entrepreneur. Probably that hasn’t gone through that. And you know, your staff has to be paid the rent has to be paid the stock has to be paid for and nobody really cares that you’re not getting your money like nobody’s like, Okay, Sam, separate your money first and then pay us after. I mean, everything has to be paid. And

David Ralph [32:56]
nobody talked about that. Sam don’t I pay first pay yourself first. That’s a that’s a big marketing strategy. But Michael McCalla wits who was on the podcast many years ago, talks about pay yourself first.

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [33:10]
Yeah, pay yourself first. It’s definitely it was a, you know, a catchphrase for the past 10 years or before you know, and, you know, you try, you try to pay yourself first. But at the same time, you believe in your business so much that you’re going to do everything you can, it’s like your baby, right, you’re going to do everything you can to protect it. And you’re going to do everything you can to ensure what you think is moving forward. So I mean, there are definitely times and I’m sure you’ve went through to unless you know you have it. But there there’s many times when you just have to pay yourself last. And that’s just the reality of the situation, you’re paying yourself last, because you are trying to push yourself forward. So that one day, you are going to pay yourself first every time, right. So there’s kind of like a strategy there and a bigger view on things of like, okay, I know, I have to pay myself last right now. But, you know, we’re gonna get to the point where I’m out of this. And then, you know, I’m not gonna have to worry about in what position I paid myself. You know,

David Ralph [34:04]
I remember probably five years ago, I was getting a couple of businesses up and running. There’s a couple of sort of quite established ones. And when my tax was done, I made about two and a half $1,000 for the year. And my my wife said to me, we can’t keep on like this. And I was saying, we’re not going to keep on like this. This is just a it’s been a very heavy year. We’ve had to spend so much but it’s got to come from somewhere. And it’s so now I didn’t see it as anything other than part of the journey. I just saw that if I want to get to there. I’ve got to do this. And I was willing to do that. But my wife had an opposing view. And the reason why she had an opposing view was she couldn’t understand because she goes off to work. And so once she gets there she clocks in and then she clocks out and she gets paid for where she’s bear. She couldn’t understand the amount of work and hours I put in to own He get that small amount at the end of the year, she just couldn’t sort of get that,

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [35:04]
yeah, she’s not going to be able to wrap her head around that she’s like, What do you mean, you went to work, you worked all these hours. And this is what you have to show for it, and you’re okay with that in a way, like, in a way, you’re, you see that the light at the end of the tunnel off of that, because a lot of people would get discouraged. So, and that’s, that’s the same thing with me, you know, my wife, you know, she definitely, you know, has a great career and, and even the employees, they, you know, they’re like, we come to work, we get paid, and other people would come to work, we get paid, and they’re not really, they’re not really in touch with this idea that there are times you go to work, and you do not get paid, and the times you go to work, and you actually may lose money, yeah, that’s really where they draw the line, like you went to work, and you worked really, really hard. And you actually came out with less than you started. That’s where people are like, I can’t do that, you know, so. But there’s a process there, you know, you have to believe in what you’re doing. And you have to believe you’re gonna get out of that. And you’re gonna have to believe that that investment in time and money is going to lead you to bigger, bigger and better things. You know,

David Ralph [35:59]
what, let’s hear from somebody who talks about that journey, finding the faith, finding something to trust, Steve Jobs, of course,

Unknown Speaker [36:06]
it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards, 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future, you have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road, will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.

David Ralph [36:41]
The big question, as always is, does that make all the difference? I think

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [36:46]
so. You know, what are you saying is right, you know, you, you have to just keep making the right decisions as you go. And that and you’re gonna have to hope that they all connect at some point later in time, right? So the only thing you have is to make the right decision at the time, but life experience and more the more business you do and the more you’re involved in your industry, the more you’re, you’re equipped to make those decisions. So it’s all about making good decisions. But over time, you’ll keep making decisions better and better and better. Because you just have more life experience to guide you. Right? So no, I definitely agree with what he’s saying.

David Ralph [37:16]
Now we’ve Oprah’s she basically says make as many decisions as you want, because none of them are truly defining that they’re just ones that you go, Oh, that was a bad one, I screwed up there. But what do I need to do to sort of move forward? Now when you join those two speeches together, they’re both basically saying, just go out and make it happen. They’re just, that’s the core message of everything, but you don’t know where you’re going to end up. But if you don’t do anything, we know where you’re gonna end up exactly where you are.

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [37:47]
Right? No, definitely. And I, in my career, I’ve seen that where I had the attitude in my early 20s, I’m gonna try everything and every anything, and I’m gonna go into it, I’m gonna do my best at it. And there were businesses that were not for me. And there were times that that, you know, that led to a down down period. But it helped me get to the point where I can then make better decisions to get to the business that I’m in now. So definitely, there’s an attitude of that. I think I would have liked to be a little bit more selective when I was younger, and maybe focus a little more, I was definitely jumping around a little bit. But it definitely led me to the right place. And I’m happy with that. But yeah, I can see how both of them. When you look at when you listen to them independently, you can understand them in a way but then when you join them together, it kind of like it kind of gives you a full picture, you know, yeah, it’s

David Ralph [38:36]
the it’s the business message, really. Find an idea niche down, niche down even deeper, do your market research, and then start taking action. And if you end up somewhere, I really believe is going to be better than where you started. I don’t I don’t see that anyone can really fail now. Unless I stop.

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [39:01]
Right stopping is the get used to failure. And, and you’re not going to be there are a lot of people I’ve seen, you know, people come through with business ideas. And I can tell in the early stages that they’re overthinking it, they’re just there’s too much detail. There’s too much fear, there’s too much stuff that they don’t know and they’re worried about. And I’m like you don’t know anything. You have to get into this. You have to start and then you have to go and then you have to make decisions as you go you you’re paralysed and stage at the first step, not even the first step. It’s pretty step one, and that’s and that paralyzation in pre step one is stopping you from getting to step one, and that’s where things break down. And that’s where they just can’t go anywhere because they’re just too overly analytical on the first step, you know, so I tell people just you have a business idea. You know, you believe in the business idea. Let’s start making decisions to go into the business and then manoeuvre as you get into the business, you

David Ralph [39:51]
know, and is that fair to think?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [39:54]
It’s fear, definitely, I would say 90% of the time it’s fear. People are scared, right? like they’re gonna put all this effort in, and it’s not going to work out, what about my competitors? What is the product actually that unique? You know, there’s they’re very, very scared. And a lot of times you go into business and you think you know how your revenues are going to generate, and you think you know the direction you’re going, but then you get into it. And there’s another way that these things happen. So you don’t you can’t know everything from day one, you just can’t, you have to believe in yourself, and you have to go. And that’s, and that’s it. And you have to make it happen, like you said, and, and all of these, all the questions that you’re asking, and all this over analyzation of it a lot of times, it’s just fear telling you to stop. And that’s what you said, the failure the failure is when you stop, you know, and, and that’s, that’s, that’s just the bottom line, right?

David Ralph [40:42]
And we all have that, you know, I, I come up with loads of business ideas, and I get all infused for a few days. And then I think, oh, leave them on the backburner. And I know I, I’m dealing with the same thing. It’s the do I need more on my plate? What’s going to be the turn round? You know, Excuse Excuse Excuse? So I’m not, even though I talked about it on the podcast. And even though I’ve done so much more than the majority of people, I still could do so much more, but I get held back.

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [41:15]
Definitely. And that’s, I have so many ideas, I come home idea, idea idea. You know, my wife calls me the idea, man. And then I’m like, do I have the time to do it? Do I have the energy to do it? But there’s definitely a way to do it. I mean, there’s a way to structure it that you know, you can bring in people to help you do it. There’s this the current business that you’re in, you can have make sure that it’s operating more efficiently so that it frees up your time. So there’s definitely ways to do it. And then you’re right, maybe it is fear, I’m scared that my other business is gonna go down if I focus on a new business, right? So everybody has that successful entrepreneurs and people who are not entrepreneurs and want to be you know, everybody, everybody has that little bit of fear. It’s just about how you manage it, and how you push through it. Right?

David Ralph [41:57]
Do you know my biggest fear, Sam, and this is my absolute biggest fear is that I trap myself. Number one, and I’ve had that in the past, where you basically, were just on call all the time, you couldn’t get away from your PC, when the family were going out and say, why don’t you join us? Oh, I can’t, I’ve got this at two o’clock. I’ve got this at three o’clock. And I freed myself off from that. And now that’s my biggest fear. Every decision I make I look at it and think, Is this going to trap me somewhere else?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [42:27]
Right? That’s great. Yeah, no, and you felt that you were trapped, and you got out of it. And now your fear is you don’t want to go back there. Right. So that’s that was that was good.

David Ralph [42:35]
So linking up with Steve Jobs, when you look back on your own life, Sam, what was your big dot? What was the moment when you feel I’ve got this, I really think I’ve got this, and I understand it.

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [42:49]
You know, I was working for a big consulting firm. In Toronto, we were travelling all over the world. It was great. You know, I learned quite a bit there. And the type of people that I had I was working with were very entrepreneurial, entrepreneurial type people that came out of business school with me, different business schools around the country. And we were travelling, we would always collaborate on different ideas, and we would always collaborate on, you know, what we wanted our careers to look like. And there was one individual specifically who I’m very close with, and he’s a good friend of mine. And we just, you know, just, we were just like, we’re not, we’re going to run our own businesses, we’re just going to, we’re going to have to do that, because that’s who we are. And that’s how we’re going to have to manoeuvre our life or career, you know, we’re just, we’re not gonna be able to work for these kinds of companies where the demands or unemployment is such that we’re going through now, because we were working like 60 to 80 hour weeks, we were travelling, there was time zones, we were tired. And at that time, we were 2223. So it made sense that they were paying us well, and everything was great. But it was just like to have that like minded people with me to collaborate with and to be like, their dreams is similar to my dreams. And it was clear that we’re the type of people that just have to run our own businesses, and he went off and he, you know, he’s very successful. And I went off, and we still come back sometimes and talk about it. But that was the moment where I was like, I’m gonna have to do this on my own, you know, I’m gonna do this on my own. Now, there’s no one man shows on my own means I’m gonna have to do you know, start a business on my own. But there’s a lot of people on the way who have joined me, and it led to our success, but I knew at that moment, it was around 2223 That I don’t know what the business is, I don’t know what the career exactly looks like right now. But it’s going to be it’s going to be you know, me running my own company, and it’s going to be something that hopefully touches globally, you know, hopefully that we have clients all over the world we’re not, you know, stuck in one area, not a local business not Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course, but it’s just wasn’t for me, I needed to do something that had some scale and to had some global approach to it, what like we do now? And so that hit me that was kind of like my eye opening moment at that age, while we were working those 6080 hours you kind of you know, have epiphanies at that at that time because you’re tired and you’re exhausted and like things just come to you that otherwise wouldn’t interview were well rested, you know? So I think that was it. And having those people around me were key at that moment in my life.

David Ralph [45:19]
And do you still enjoy it?

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [45:23]
Yes, yes, I definitely enjoy it a lot. I think my wife thinks I enjoy it too much, you know, she maybe thinks I’m a little addicted to it. But I love it. You know, I love collaborating with my current team. I love coming out with new products we love, we love the client journey, you know, from the beginning to the end, you know, the seven day turnaround time and how efficient that is. And we love the experience the client has after they get the socks and the feedback that we get. And we love the fact that we don’t have to stock inventory. We know that that was a business model we came up with and you know, we, you know, we sell it and then we ship it versus ship it then sell it right. So we love the model. And we love the the fact that every year the business looks different than the year before because it’s growing so fast. You know, like my designer, she’s very smart, my head designer, she goes, she always tells me she like Sam, if you’re if you look back a year ago, and you’re not embarrassed by the work that you did a year ago that you probably haven’t done that much this year, you know, it’s like kinda hold myself to that our designs are much better every year, the way we present designs are much better, the quality of the socks are much better. Everything we do is better year after year, our numbers are much better, our employee count is much better, or you know, so I kind of hold myself to that I’m like, if I look back a year, is the business the same? Or has it grown, you know, in grown in a lot of different ways. So yeah, that’s, that’s something I do enjoy quite a bit actually.

David Ralph [46:40]
That is wise, isn’t it? Looking back and going? It was crap. I thought it was the best I could do. And I was really proud of it. But I look back on it now. And look what we’ve got. You know, he’s brilliant.

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [46:52]
Yes. She said that she’s like, You shouldn’t be embarrassed, and I’m gonna get embarrassed. That’s a strong word. But now I look back and I’m like, You’re right. We grew so much that business a year ago is a different business than it is today. Right? So she’s right, in a way, right?

David Ralph [47:03]
She’s She’s right. Women are always right, Sam, you should know that. And I’m gonna save that on the podcast. I’m on. I’m on both sides of the fence here. Well, this. Well, this is the part of the show that we’ve been building up to. And this is the part that we call a sermon on the mic when you’re actually going to get to go back in time and speak to the young Sam. And if you could go back in time and sit in a room with the young chap. What advice would you love to give him to get him to where you are today? Well, we’re going to find out because I’m going to play the music. And when it fades is your time to talk. This is the Sermon on the mic here we go with the best bit of the show. Man on the mic, man

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [48:02]
Hi, twisty roads. Sam, this is older Sam coming back to you to speak to you about things that I’ve learned over the years, and I wanted to share with you because you’re 20 and you’re now in business school, and I wanted to come back and speak to you a little bit. So one of the things I want to tell you is because I know you because I went through this, what you’re going through is that, you know it’s going to be okay, you know, you should really focus on learning as much as you can. And I’m working as hard as you can. And making sure that you know, you’re really absorbing all the experiences that you have at that age, in business school with the people around you and not focusing on the next maybe, you know, gig that you can get into your next business but because right now is the time in your 20s to really learn and learn and learn and then, you know, make decisions based on what you’ve learned. So, you know, I know when you were 20 that you were so into, you know, just trying to get into a business and try to move forward and try to jump ahead and try to like fast forward your life to be where I’m at now. But actually that time that when you’re in your 20s When you’re in business school is super important to actually just slow down and learn everything you need to learn with the people around you because you’re in that position for a reason. Right the people around you are there for a reason. And their work ethic and your work ethic you’re around those people they’re really good working good people, good hardworking people. And you can learn so much from them. So slow down, focus with them. On on, on, on what you’re doing there, you know, in business school, don’t try to jump ahead because I know that that’s what you know, I guess we can say we did when we were 20 and enjoy it and enjoy the experiences and enjoy the travel and enjoy all those things. You know your your nature is to want to grow a business and that’s going to come and your nature is to want to jump into these things but then that’s going to come but it will come just by doing what you’re doing. So that’s I guess what I wanted to do to connect the dots and hope that was okay.

David Ralph [50:04]
Great stuff. So Sam, what’s the number one best way that our audience can connect with

Sockratescustom Founder Samuel Moses [50:08]
you? We have a website Socrates SOC, K, Ra te s custom CEUs t om.com. And of course, you can reach me at Sam at Socrates custom.com. That’s sh M at Socrates custom.com. I’d love to hear from anybody. I’d love to hear any questions that you have. Or if you want to just talk socks, I’m definitely here to listen. So Socrates custom.com, or Sam at Socrates custom.com.

David Ralph [50:32]
Great. Well, I have all the links on the show notes. Sam, thank you so much for spending time with us today, joining up those dots. And please come back again, when you got more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining up those dots, and connecting our paths is the best way to build our futures. Sam Moses, thank you so much. So branded socks, and he worked through the process, he found the mistakes he found the need, and just worked through this scary times. Of course there are, but you can overcome that because you just look around and you think other people have done it. How have they done it. And you can pretty much have the dots lined up before you even start by looking at your market research and, and seeing what your competitors doing. And just join up the dots of the the success that’s already out there. Success leaves clues and you can make it happen as well. So for anybody who wants more help with building their own business or starting you can just come across to join up dots.com and connect with us on the email or the voice message. You can download our free courses that we’ve got on there. But more than that, you’ll be in next time because I’m gonna be here and I don’t want to be on my own. Okay, so you look after yourselves. You stay sexy. Cheers.

Outro [51:52]
You’ve heard the conversation. Now it’s time for you to start taking massive action. Create your future create your life is the only life you got. We’ll be back again real soon. Join Up Dots during the gods Join Up Dots. Gods Jolina Join Up Dots