IAM054 – CEO Creates a Rugby Brand Delivering Content, Community & Clothing

Scott Flear is the CEO of Rugby Warfare which is a rugby clothing brand based in the UK. Scott is a self-taught internet marketer having built and sold his first fitness site by age 19. Rugby Warfare started as a side hustle whilst working as head of SEO for a luxury games room retailer and then as Performance Marketing Manager for a social sports club in London.

He's an avid Rugby fan and player and saw a gap in the market for a Rugby brand to deliver the 3 Cs, content, community, and clothing.

CEO Hack:  Podcast and Audio Books / How I Built This & Business Wars
CEO Nugget: Listen to advice from someone who's been through something similar
CEO Defined: Freedom, loneliness, and unstable / “Managing Director” in the UK

Website: https://www.rugbywarfare.com
Store: https://www.rugbywarfare.com/store
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/rugbywarfare
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rugbywarfare
Marketing Website: http://www.flearmarketing.com

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Scott Flear of rugby warfare.

Scott, it is awesome to have you on the show.

Scott Flear 0:36

It's good to be here. Hopefully, your guests can understand the Welsh accent.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

Exactly. We're trying to make it work. I appreciate you for being on the show. What I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about you so people can get a better idea of all the awesome things that you're doing.

Scott Flear is the CEO of rugby warfare, which is a rugby clothing brand based in the UK. Scott is a self-taught internet marketer having built and sold his first fitness site by age 19. Rugby Warfare started as a side hustle whilst working as head of SEO for a luxury games room retailer and then as Performance Marketing Manager for a social sports club in London. He's an avid Rugby fan and player and saw a gap in the market for a Rugby brand to deliver the 3 Cs, content, community, and clothing.

Scott, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Scott Flear 1:28

Yeah, let's do it.

Gresham Harkless 1:29

Awesome. I wanted to ask you for your CEO story, to drill down a little bit more to tell us what exactly led you to start your business?

Scott Flear 1:36

Yeah, so like you said just now, about how I got to rugby warfare. Back when I was about 17 or 18, studying for exams, I just got deep-dived into the world of forums on bodybuilding.com, where a lot of people are building their own websites and making money. And I was like, this is amazing.

So at 18, I was curious, I went into the forum, I was learning how to build websites and at the time, I love health and fitness and the gym and rugby. So I always had a business mind and I thought this is like a way to get a skill that nobody else will have when they graduate from university. So yeah, as I am self-taught how to build websites to help the black community and bodybuilding.com but my first site learn about SEO back then, which was probably dodgy, like blackhat SEO stuff. Thank God has moved on from that. And then yeah, I just love them. I was doing more of that than studying and I kind of built my site. And as I went to university, then I got a job doing SEO for a local supplement company through the website I built, when I'm explaining this story, because when I look back at all the things the link up is amazing, how it's all linked up to where I am now.

And when I got introduced to people in the fitness industry and work for more websites, and then I sold that website while at university because I had no money and I was in Nando's at the time, and someone offered me a few 1000 and I took it, I lost interest in it. And then that's how I came up with the idea of warfare. Because I realized, what I did for the fitness industry with the website about information, training, nutrition, and stuff. Nobody was doing it for rugby, it was kind of closed off.

So I thought, let's start doing it for rugby, let's start writing content, let's use the connections I've built over the last three years to get the coaches and players interviewed and stuff. And then to build our rugby off in 2012-2013 obviously learned SEO by now. And Rugby Warfare was my kind of case study of SEO, so I landed my job as a head of SEO Post University had nothing to do with my degree. My degree was business oriented, but I could show the results I did on my own website.

And that's how I landed my job as head of SEO and then performance marketing manager and obviously learning the ins and outs of other companies helped me grow Rugby Warfare as a side hustle. I then changed the side hustle into a full-time thing about two years ago. So yeah, that's the story.

Gresham Harkless 3:54

Awesome. Yeah, and it is phenomenal like you said, not to say probably your education, everything probably played a part. But it came down to how were you able to deliver results. And you've been able to do that and it probably helped you as far as like being able to see opportunities. And that kind of led you to the opportunity to start Rugby Warfare, which I think is pretty awesome. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper into Rugby Warfare and hear a little bit more about how you serve your clients and what exactly you have on your site.

Scott Flear 4:19

Yeah, so when I started again, it was like you mentioned the three C's it was about content and educating players on how to get better at rugby. This grew like an authority in the industry. It grew a community and about 2015 is like there's been a huge shift in the last five or 10 years for athleisure clothing.

So people are starting to wear their gym kit socially and people wear clothing to represent who they are and the day you wear the clothing that you're going to say who you are via why you wear and rugby's a really proud community that people are really proud to be a rugby player. It's a really respectful sport. So in my head, I was like this has to be done. I got feedback from the community I built and the designs we want to bring stuff out to you to wear in the gym, out the gym, on the field, and for it to be, complementary to the physique.

Rugby players' physiques are also big in general than the normal gym goer, I'd say but we didn't want to bring up flashy stuff, it was more about rugby and respect going hand in hand, so the clothing has to be smart as you are. So yeah, I just started thinking we need to bring out the cloth and range to represent the rugby, the rugby boys and people loved it. And it just grew from there, we brought our designs, how we got the first customers, though, this is probably important, there are minimum order quantities in clothing and to get over that what we did was we got to design, got a sample for some photos up and then started taking pre-orders on how it works as you put a 30% deposit upfront for bulk order, and then 70% on delivery and between that timeframe of 30% deposit and 70% we took the pre-orders made the profit and then paid it so the risk was really low.

So we only released products that sold for the first five or six product launches. And then once we got the money, we were able to do bigger launches, more products, be riskier, that's how we got the first customers, we got feedback from the community and new designs out for the design and then we took pre-orders.

Gresham Harkless 6:11

A lot of people kind of sometimes forget that at the heart of the business, you try to minimize the risk. But you're able to find out that you had a market and what you had a market for you figure out what that is so that you're able to pay those deposits that you have to pay and then you start to build everything kind of backward, it's kind of like a reverse way of thinking because you will build it first and then try to sell it when in reality, you figure out what the market wants and fulfill that

Scott Flear 6:35

Exactly. So don't underestimate how bringing the community into the product design actually gets them involved and they start to like the brand more and they're involved in the products being made, they're part of the entire process and it just builds brand loyalty. And just a quick story, a year and a half ago, we had enough money to do bulk orders but we didn't do this, we didn't do pre-orders, we just thought we'd bring out a range of 8 or 10 products and then we thought they'd sell but they didn't, so we went away from what we built the company on because we had the finance to do it and it just flopped. So that was a massive lesson, just because you can then buy bulk orders without taking pre-orders or feedback doesn't mean you should do it. So that was a big lesson.

Gresham Harkless 7:24

Yeah, those are always good to be reminded of. So you might have already touched on it. But I want to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce, or what do you feel differentiates you from other people that might be within your industry?

Scott Flear 7:35

Yeah, I said the three C's were content, and community clothing, I think a lot of people don't really bring all of that together, I would say our designs are unique compared to the competitors. The design that we use exclusive designs for us and we got a specific look for the brand that other brands don't have. This is because when a younger brand is compared to the older rugby brands, they're probably run by older men. And they stick to the classic durable stuff, where we're using, new fabrics, and we're pushing the designs out there, we're using different kinds of cuts and stuff, so there we go, obviously, the design is unique, custom massive selling points, but I just think the community and the content is unique as well.

Having all of that together, bringing people into the design process, also we let people speak one-to-one with professional rugby players in our private Facebook group and if you look at other sports, this doesn't happen, if you try to get a football fan soccer to have a one to one conversation with Cristiano Ronaldo on Facebook, it's not possible. With us, we've got a former Player of the Year Shane Williams. He's one of the best rugby players ever to play. He's in the group. We've got Ross Moriarty, who's Welsh International and he plays for the British and Irish lions, which is the top of the top, you can ask him directly one to one questions. And there are other players from New Zealand and Fiji, we can do the same. I think that just adds this extra special touch to all, we're not just asking people for money to buy stuff we're giving them this really crazy value back that you can't really just buy.

Gresham Harkless 9:10

Exactly, exactly. That's like you touched on those three C's and having that all under one umbrella is very rare. So I definitely think that's a great example of a secret sauce. Now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be a resource like an app or a book or maybe it's a habit that you lean on that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Scott Flear 9:30

Yes, as easy as got to be podcasts and audiobooks. You spend a lot of time alone as a CEO of a company, you may travel a lot. I think listening to podcasts, some of my favorites how I built this speaks to other founders of companies like Instagram, and Starbucks, there are five guys and they asked the questions you want to know and it's like speaking to someone who's in the same kind of position to do obviously different revenue streams but having that Bailey is key because As you're speaking, you're on your own basically, being able to just get new ideas and listening to a while traveling insights of like-minded people just get you in the zone every day. I think that the best thing I've done was listen to audiobooks or podcasts daily.

Gresham Harkless 10:14

Yeah, I love that. Being able to kind of fit that in, especially if you're on the go often, to be able to, pop on your phones and be able to take in that content or information for whatever it is that you're looking for insight about is phenomenal. So I think that's a great CEO hack.

Scott Flear 10:29

If someone's listening to this, a new podcast I listen to it's called business wars, and it's absolutely amazing. It's about Nike versus Adidas, Marvel vs. DC, and it just goes in-depth and between Sony versus Nintendo, and you just see everything that goes behind the scenes of these companies, and it just makes you realize why you're the finished product you see is nowhere near what's actually happened. Yeah, that's a good one.

Gresham Harkless 10:57

Yeah, I have heard of that one. That's a really good one. Yeah, I always loved a video game net. So being able to get over that game. And I swear by Nike, Nike and Adidas, Nintendo and Sony. That's pretty cool. So I'm gonna check that one out.

Scott Flear 11:11

That's good.

Gresham Harkless 11:12

Now, I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. This might be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice you have for entrepreneurs and business owners.

Scott Flear 11:18

Yeah. I don't know if this is a general one. But, listen to advice from someone who's been through something similar. I say this because I don't know how many times I've actually offered advice to friends or other people I've known through friends will connect me with someone and say, this is Scott, he's got his own clothing brand, and you want to do something similar and I'll give him my advice. Basically, this mixtape mistakes, I've done, so they don't do, but they never take the advice because they think, they know better, blah, blah, blah, they come back three to four months later, or who's a person you told me about?

Or what's a resource you said, Give me a date, that is too late and so, always be open to advice from people who have gone down the path you're looking to go down, don't think you're too good, because you're doing your own thing, your own boss, it means nothing end of the day, just listen to advice and I'll always listen to advice, if they're given, some people really zone out when someone tries to give them advice.

I think it could be ego, or they just think they know everything. But at the end of the day, like just listen to advice from people who have been through things, because that's the quickest way to learn. You don't need to do the same mistakes as someone else because they've already done the mistakes, so learn from their mistakes, you can do fewer mistakes, and you don't have to do all the same mistakes as other people have. They've already done it.

Gresham Harkless 12:37

Yeah, this idea of like standing on the shoulders of giants, so to speak. So you have somebody that's already been successful, you're gonna learn as much and from what they've done, so that you're able to reach farther and see farther. So I'd love that nugget as well. So now I wanted to ask you, which is my favorite question for the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different CEOs on this podcast. So I wanted to ask you, specifically what being a CEO means to you?

Scott Flear 13:01

Yeah, it's like three or four things. One, freedom, obviously, you've got, ultimately, you're in control of your own life and destiny. That's number one, loneliness, that's a huge one, you are going to be very, very, very, very lonely, you're in your own head, you've got an old boss to ask stuff to you might have a mental end of the day is on your head. And then unstable, you're going to literally need to get used to going through ups and downs, and new territories every month, every week.

So like those three things are really things that stand out to me when I think about my own journey and being a CEO. Also, CEOs, I think it's more of an American term to the UK, they're gonna UK people may use Managing Director, but I think CEOs is just a term someone should use even if you're a one-person organization, or 100.

If you're hiring freelancers, affiliates, or brand ambassadors, you're essentially running a sales team, as the ambassadors and affiliate is, a little sales team or freelancers is your own content team. Back in the day, you might have had to hire them full-time yourself. But in this new world, we don't need to hire people full-time, you can do freelancers and brand ambassadors or your sales guy.

So, you're basically running a ship and you're bringing all of this together to bring your vision to life. I think that's what a CEO is. It's not about how many people you employ your how much money you make. It's about bringing loads of things together to deliver your vision, essentially. So that's what it means to me. Anyway.

Gresham Harkless 14:29

I love it. I mean, I love that definition. I love those three aspects that you talked about freedom, loneliness, and instability, and to some degree, because there are a lot of aspects of that when you're running a business no matter how big or how small. So Scott, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule to speak with us. What I want to do is pass you the mic so to speak, see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know, and then also how best people can get.

Scott Flear 14:52

Just like advice, you got some advice I read a lot of books and one of my favorite authors is Ryan Holiday, he's got a book called Ego is the Enemy and the obstacle is a way which is used by lots of NFL teams and books off stoicism, which is like philosophy and one thing in those books that really stood out to me was this the same arm or Fathi, which means love or faith or love your faith.

And I, when I was going through a really bad time when I went I study earlier, but a massive mistake I did, almost 40 minutes, just love everything happens to and, basically take it on your shoulders and say, I got to deal with this. I'm the person to deal with this. And I think that's important as an entrepreneur CEO, that if you're going through bad times, just understand, you're going to it for a reason, you're going to bear for it, don't get into a negative. So, just think having these sayings to guide you every day is important. So I'd recommend reading those books.

Gresham Harkless 15:56

Awesome. We will try to put those in the show notes as well. And if someone wants to reach out to you, Scott, what's the best way for them to hear from you?

Scott Flear 16:03

If you have any questions, you can email me at scott@rugbywarfare.com You can go follow me on Instagram, @scott_flear, or Twitter and I'll go for any questions though. Those are the easiest ways.

Gresham Harkless 16:15

Scott, thank you so much again for taking some time out of your schedule. And I just hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Scott Flear 16:19

My son likes to be at your speeches soon.

Outro 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless.

Thank you for listening

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