Fashion Gxd Magazine - Angelo Austin CEO of Preeminence Six Figures In Six Months (Now Available)
Written By: Samantha Cee
This week we sat down with CEO Of Angelo Austin CEO of Preeminence . We took an exclusive look on the rising dynamic powerhouses brand - with an exclusive cover story.
FGM: Its an honor to sit down with you all. Tell us a little about your brand and how you've come to this vastly successful peak in your career .
Answer: First and foremost it's a pleasure to sit down with you also. Hard work and dedication has gotten both of us here. Preeminence was created with the goal of bringing unique fragrances to the market for unique individuals. There are two primary lines within Preeminence. A signature line which are scents curated by me and a custom line for those that want to take their style to the next level. The word Preeminence itself means to be in an elite class in a nutshell and this is what we wanted to convey with scent. Our success has come from years of failure. So first I would say endurance helped us get here. Secondly a shift in perspective. Although we are a fragrance company we had to understand that we were also a marketing and distribution company. For a company to survive it has to constantly grow with new customers daily and the product has to be to them in a timely manner to keep the cycle going. After understanding this we treated our marketing and distribution as a business within a business and utilized online advertising to find our customers and a good fulfillment strategy to get products to our customers as quickly as possible.
FGM: Who are the clients/what are the projects that you most enjoy working on?
Answer: We love working with our custom clients. A custom fragrance is no different than a bespoke fashion design. The client comes with an ideal and it is our job to articulate their vision through scent.
FGM: How do you feel you make a difference in the world?
Answer: I feel our brand makes a difference from two aspects of confidence and wellness . A great fragrance gives someone a little more confidence and we love that our art is doing this for our clients when they wear it. Our Aromatherapy products help customers with their mood and relieve some difficulties they may be experiencing. It's a scientific fact that smell evokes the most memory out of all of our senses. So when you think about it our scent will always be remembered by our customers and those they come in contact with. Scent can be associated with a particular experience that someone has encountered while wearing the scent. (So ladies keep in mind a man will miss you when he smells your scent not when he sees your handbag).
FGM: Tell us about a time when you showed determination to continue as an entrepreneur
Answer: Although there have been many hurdles, one that has to be the hardest was 2017. We opened a location inside a mall to try our hand on the retail end. This was a massive failure financially. We pretty much came up negative every month to where we eventually had to close within a year. Having something like this happen could easily chip away at your confidence and have you question your own purpose. But a natural born leader will always look for a solution rather than the problem. There were two great things that came from this situation though. The 1st I learned about our customers and their interest. This showed me the products that needed to be implemented into our line. And secondly but this is where I met my admin Timpriss who has been a major component to our success.
FGM: Give me the three best qualities of your brand
Answer: Quality, unique scents and fast fulfilment
Although we take every aspect of our brand seriously, these are the areas we shine in. Let me start with quality. A part of our mission was for customers to get the most out of their scent. Most fragrance companies will dilute the fragrance with cheap chemicals and less oil to cut cost. We do the exact opposite: more oil and no chemicals this alone will keep the fragrance in its purest state. This is where quality control comes in from Constance who is a fragrance enthusiast. Typically it has to get the ok from her to bring it to market. Secondly our scents are like no other; we like to go against the grain of conventional smells. Scents should be matched like an outfit… It has become boring to match colors to the tee. A good scent includes accents that compliments its surrounding counterparts. Lastly, speed! We have developed a unique fulfillment system to get our customers orders out within 24-48hrs of placing their order.
FGM: Give me an example of when you worked irregular hours?
Answer: There are so many times when we had to put in extra work. Rather it was out of state events, preparing for our launch party or just coming up with new ideals. But I would have to say recently that we experienced growing pains this year. We began fulfilling 20- 30 times our normal volume. This required new systems and software that I had to work with Constance and Timpriss on. This included correcting orders, finding missing orders, and setting up better production logistics. It took roughly 4 months or so to get this down. Every day presented a new problem for us to where we had to find a solution.
FGM: Being a entrepreneur is a 24/7 job, how did you get ready for that?
Answer: I feel entrepreneurship is a trait that’s innate with someone from a young age. When you look at the most successful people in their field, they sold something, had a hustle ethic or an interest in money at a young age. I'm a natural born hustler myself! I even sold candy at 10 years old so I feel a strong work ethic was always with me. But I think it ultimately boiled down to finding something I was passionate about and surrounding myself with more seasoned entrepreneurs that helped me look at business from a birds eye view.
FGM: How did you acquire the ability to work under pressure to beat meet deadlines as a entrepreneur ?
Answer: I personally work better under pressure when creating. I've noticed the less time I have to think most of the time the better. But when it comes to internal deadlines within the business such as developing new systems, just having the end goal in mind helps.
FGM: What is your favorite inspirational point, place, to develop new brand developments?
Answer: This depends and is a 2 part question . When creating from scratch anywhere around water. I will also put on water and nature sounds while working. To be honest about 90% of my ideas come to me in the shower when working from scratch. The other part of my inspiration is collaborating with our lead designer Heather. When I smell a fragrance I see colors or a scene. Seeing her artwork will either inspire me or re inspire me.
FGM: Which current public figure, are you inspired by or appreciate the most?
Answer: I would have to say Nipsey Hussle. I have always been a fan of his since hearing him music in 2009 and his music is literally my morning alarm on Spotify to jump start my day. When I first listened to him I immediately resonated with him. He represented an independent grind and putting yourself in a certain position without a middle man. I feel that his hustle is relatable to me and represents Preeminence as a whole. Two ideologies of his that helped us endure the most are "Retro Pay" and "it's a marathon". Meaning you can do something for years before it pays off but whatever your doing realize your in it for the long run. When it comes to entrepreneurship one thing that he said on his album Mailbox Money in the song Overtime "The leaders of tomorrow will be the ones that create a good business model not necessarily a good product or service". Right there he gave the game that what you are doing is one thing but the experience that you create for the customer is key. This is what we’re continuously working on.
How do you handle stress ?
Answer: The best way I found to handle stress in business is to simply walk away from it. Rather it’s a couple hours or a day to clear my head. I have also made it a practice now to implement massages every month to help with stress.
FGM: What are the three qualities you feel an entrepreneur must have ?
Adaptability, the ability to organize people and a balance of good intuition mixed with logic.
Being able to adapt and pivot is a crucial skill that I feel every entrepreneur should possess. When you really think about it, adaptability is really just a reflection of your creativity at work. There will usually be 2 main times in business that will require an entrepreneur to adapt. These situations will often determine how long an entrepreneur stays in business. A market shift and an economic shift. For example a market shift might be a new style or way of doing business that the masses are gravitating too. An economic shift would be something like COVID where the entrepreneur has to think of innovative ways to keep business going. Either way the entrepreneur has to think outside of the box to stay ahead of the curve.
Organizing people- No matter what you're doing you will need a team or help. The entrepreneur may have the vision but your team will be the detail to your picture. Being able to clearly articulate your vision to others so clearly that they can see it as clearly as you can and become invested is a necessary skill to grow your ideal or brand.
Balance of Intuition and logic - Rather its an opportunity or person, an entrepreneur will need the ability to intertwine intuition and logic to arrive at the final decision that makes sense for both the situation and the business.
FGM: Where do you see your business in 10 years ?How do you plan to get there ?
Answer: Our goals lie more within systems more than anything. Our motto is if a good foundation is built with good intent the rest is a byproduct of that. In the next 10 years we see our business becoming a landmark in Detroit, Michigan and having a production system as sophisticated as Henry Ford along with a fulfillment system as sophisticated as Amazon. The National Entrepreneurs Association has helped us get to this point by fostering my growth and they will help us get to this level.
FGM: It was a pleasure speaking with you thank you for joining us
Answer: It was a pleasure speaking with you also and thank you for having me.
By Pilar Scratch in Entrepreneur cover for Fashion Gxd Magazine
30 pages, published 9/11/2021
