LADI SAKA CONTINUOUSLY DOMINATES THE ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORTS INDUSTRIES
I recently had a chance to sit down with Ladi Saka, an entrepreneur currently residing in Los Angeles, CA.
Tell us your story and what makes you unique?
My name is Hussain Oladimeji Saka. Everyone knows me as Ladi. I was born in London, England on November 9th, 1992. I am also a fraternal twin as my brother and I were born four minutes apart from each other. My family's heritage and nationality is Nigerian, so the majority of them are still in London and Nigeria. I was blessed with the opportunity to be in the United States and create my dream shout out to both my parents for providing that. From selling candy in High School to creating my first clothing Apparel in college. I had the opportunity to expand my entrepreneurial endeavours at CSUN by being active in clubs, organizations and even joining a fraternity helped me improve my networking among my peers . My Third year of college I decided to take a leap into my vision. Steering away from the 9 to 5 model and completely started working for myself and creating strategic partnerships to expand my businesses. Now I am in great position to evolve a local business to a well known global brand by next year is the goal.
I have had the opportunity to work with Vayner Sports & Bet Experience by having our company do our Live Printing Experience. Fortunate to have Drake’s Dad Dennis Graham perform for the Classic Gentleman team and I, we were the first ones to bring him out to Orange County.
What motivated you to get started with your business?
The motivation of getting started with my business derives from my upbringing and my Nigerian culture. Education and having a successful career is an important attribute to obtain within my family and the forward thinking of generational wealth, especially being an immigrant in the United States is vital for our future. My grandmother motivated me to become a successful entrepreneur by leading by example. She scaled her kids clothing business in Nigeria, London, and the United States. Every weekend we would go with her to Downtown Los Angeles to handle business with the wholesalers so she could take it back overseas to the market. The Great Recession showed me that you cannot rely on your 9 to 5 job to live a sustainable life and the security isn’t permanent. I rather struggle and build my business from the ground up and fight for the chance to provide stability for my community.
What would you say are the biggest challenges when starting a business?
The biggest challenges when starting a business is establishing your credibility and trust with your audience. The customer is always right no matter what. You have to adapt to the different personalities and appease them with solutions not problems. My job is to listen and build trust with customers at Tekton. We are the community. Understanding the market we are targeting and connecting with our clientele by consistent practice led to my growth in helping expand this company with the relationships and platforms that I have access to. You have to put time in building out the infrastructure and business plan of your business. It helps keep your goals in order.
Your business model is very unique. How could you expand on what makes it so?
We can expand on our current business model because we have the luxury to adapt into different industries. As Tekton has become more of a platform than a clothing company. We plan on educating everyone about our sustainable responsibility in the apparel industry. Our Print On Demand models allows us to have a lean manufacturing business and lowers the cost of overhead and wasted shirts in the shelves or people’s homes. We are unique with the experiences that we can provide as a company there is no limitation. Having more strategic partnerships and collaborations through the content on social media we are going to be able to spark a change. Our customers trust us to find a solution for any problems that they have.
How did you come up with the idea of creating a print on demand company? How does that process work?
Print on demand is a responsibility that requires a team. Printing in general is a team effort. However, digital printing allows us to create a lean manufacturing environment. Creating the least carbon footprint is one of the biggest benefits of print on demand. Most of the t-shirts we all wear daily, have probably traveled the world more than most of us. It is time to disrupt this outdated model and create and manufacture with Tekton. We want to use our platform to lead by example to educate the world what is available and an efficient way of printing.
How important is mindset when starting your own business?
Failure and quitting is not an option. Mindset is one of the key factors when it comes to starting your business. You have to be mentally strong and constantly work on improving your education in the industry that you are in. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and seek mentorship for individuals that have already been successful in your field. Be able to sponge, student of the game, do your research and prepare for your meetings. Learn from your mistakes and apply the lessons that you have received. After reading the book “The Secret” and other positive books helped me shape my mind and just strictly focus where I want to be in life. Just get to learn more about yourself and challenge everyone around you.
What are 5 tips to improve people’s mindset when it comes to life and business?
The 5 tips to improve your mindset when it comes to life and business is listening to positive affirmation audiobooks, songs, even meditate to clear your head. Health = Wealth. With at least walking, working out, playing sports 30 minutes a day, this can be vital to having a clear mindset and providing focus on your business. Focus on eating healthier stops you from being overworked and getting sick easily as you would be working 12 hour + days for your business. Networking with like-minded individuals and having a successful inner circle to build your vision and mindset with. I follow inspirational pages, individuals, and get inspired by my peers that spread positive quotes and content on their feeds. If you are the smartest person in your room you are in the wrong place.
What’s your advice on growing and scaling a business?
My advice on growing a business is to do research in whatever industry you are in you should study and learn from your competition. Don’t be afraid to fail, give yourself time to figure the business model that works really well for your business. Networking is essential to scaling your business positions to create strategic partnerships to excel the growth curve more efficiently and sustainable. Your job is to be able to provide great customer service and solutions to your audience problems. Diversifying your portfolio with the ability to adapt and solve your customers' problems even if it is something that you don’t specialize automatically shows value for your business. Innovation positions us the opportunity to invest more into the business and provide outstanding customer service.
What does fear mean to you?
Fear is being afraid of failure and hindering yourself from growing beyond your expectations. Your fear can be turned into your greatest outcome; it is just an obstacle ahead of you. The unknown around the corner anything can be overcome. When you are uncomfortable you have to figure out a solution to that problem and achieve nothing but greatness. I am excited to overcome every obstacle we shall receive building Tekton.
What does success mean to you?
Success to me is having financial independence and having the option to spend time with your family. Having a balance between your business and genuine relationships with the individuals supporting you. The luxury to travel the world and have all the bills paid with money to invest into different projects. My goal is to become a venture capitalist and invest back into the community and help provide more jobs for the economy. A strong network that you can build with is success and I am grateful to be in that position in my life with Tekton.
When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I decided to start my own business when I was 12 years old. I have always been fascinated with owning real estate and creating a few successful companies to be able to create generational wealth for my family. My grandmother and mother had successful business careers showing me first hand the 9 to 5 life wasn’t going to work out for me. Creating a business hasn’t always been perfect but the journey has definitely been worth it.
As a young entrepreneur what advice would you give to all the young people that want to start out but don’t know where or how to?
I would suggest starting to build your network and customer service skills as early as you can. Through building a network you are able to speed your learning curve. Be open to new experiences and businesses that you have not tried yet even though it has nothing to do with your profession. You can learn new tactics from other businesses to apply to become successful with your business. Learn from people smarter than you and pay close attention to the individuals that have already achieved or have the expertise in your profession. Always focus on having a solution for people’s problems and you will always have a job.
Biggest obstacle you’ve overcome so far?
The biggest obstacle I had to overcome is my self growth and knowledge of the custom apparel business because I came from a background of accounting and entertainment. Starting from scratch since creating a clothing brand in college and my grandma building a successful kids clothing company overseas. It was a different experience for me but I have experience working in different industries that I could apply my knowledge and expertise to expand this business. I am focused on building a platform and infrastructure to build a successful business. With the relationships that I have built through network marketing expedited my progress in building Tekton. Focusing on providing personal customer service has helped overcome the obstacle.
Talk to us about your business model? How does it work?
We are a custom apparel store and customer service driven. From production and branding of any individual that steps into Tekton we bring their vision to life. They come and show us what they want created and we guide through the whole process to make sure we meet their demands. We have our formulas for the DTG process and showcase this as an alternative to silk screen print. And we have expanded our reach and started offering a more demand approach to embroidery which everyone has gravitated to that service. We are also able to offer cut & sew jobs, marketing services, platforms, and events to bring to the table for our customers. We now have become a print on demand fulfillment center under our second company Merchathon LLC. On demand high end quality decorating apparel services and shipping all under one umbrella. (@tektonla)
Ladi Saka - tips on managing multiple businesses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOpnq3NvwP8
Be sure to follow Ladi Saka on instagram: @londoniangaga
