Adam Kern, creator and founder of My Buffalo Shirt started his t-shirt company in 2008. A mechanical engineering graduate started his own business "for his love of sports and the city of Buffalo".

Although completing his degree in engineering has been a very difficult journey for him but he can't seem to thank enough for learning the science that has helped in building a structured foundation for his company.

Adam has been very kind to take some time to answer couple of our questions; read further to learn what a young and dynamic 26 year old entrepreneur has to share with us:

To Begin with, tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Adam Kern from Buffalo, NY. I am 26 years old and the owner / creator of My Buffalo Shirt. I went to the University of Buffalo for a Bachelors degree of science in Mechanical Engineering. Let me tell you, getting my degree in engineering was one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life. The benefit of it changed my way of thinking and developed my ability to design / develop ideas.

They say once you get your Mechanical engineering degree you can do just about anything you want with it. Well I used it to build my shirt company from the ground up. I literally remodeled an old garage into our shop. In addition, we do all in house printing and even build our own screens. I also built our website and I designed a majority of the shirts.

Why a shirt company? I figured it would be a way to express myself while at the same time actually enjoying work.

How and when did you come with the idea of 'My Buffalo Shirt”?

In the winter of 2008, I had this idea for a unique edgy Buffalo Hockey shirt. I was already running a t-shirt line dedicated to having some sort of skull featured in every design. This Buffalo Hockey shirt was just a side design I was doing for fun (that I thought I would run as a limited run of shirts). As it turned out there was a higher demand for the Hockey shirt than I had anticipated. Sales for my skull shirt line were on the decline, and I made a business decision to shift focus onto a Buffalo Shirt line …that’s how My Buffalo Shirt was born.

Since you are a sports enthusiast, we would love to know about your favorite sport.

By far I am a huge Hockey and Buffalo Sabres fan. After all, the Buffalo Hockey shirt was the very first design.

I joke but, I will probably knock over dead someday from high blood pressure from watching the games so intensely. And yes, I did play hockey while growing up, but now I’ve been focusing more time into my company and other life endeavors.

When you decided to become an entrepreneur, what was the biggest road block that you faced and how did you manage to overcome it?

One word: Confidence.

It sounds simple but having the confidence to get your product out there and sell your product is key. Coming from an engineering background, I knew how to build and design the backend of my t-shirt company from the ground up. The hardest part was sales. To this day I dislike trying to sell someone a shirt but I have learned that being confident, (not cocky) will more than likely get you the sale. Having a brother that thrives at sales has also helped out a lot too.

How important is social media for an online business? What are your favorite networking sites for promoting your business?

Nowadays, I believe any business cannot thrive without some kind of online marketing strategy. The big players out there, Facebook and Twitter, have helped to make people in the Buffalo area aware of our company. They are a great way to get feedback from your customers too. People who follow us on Facebook and twitter are able to get the most recent news updates and discounts.

Your t-shirts designs are unique and very detailed, how do you make sure that you never run out of creativity?

I greatly appreciate the compliments. The designs I come up with focus on Buffalo Sports, granite we only have two major teams in Buffalo, (the Bills and Sabres), but there are some diehard Buffalo sports fans here. My mind is constantly racing and thinking of more and more ideas. My network of friends have a lot of different backgrounds and it helps bouncing ideas off of them to come up with something solid. It also helps that there are a surplus of creative possibilities within the city of Buffalo’s vast history that I’ve only touched the surface on.

Apart from sports, what other interests do you have? We would love to know about your favorite book, movie, music, food and websites.

I’m really not that big of a book guy. I read more on-line publications than anything. Ranging from sports / blogs / news/ designing tips. My favorite movie with out a doubt is Grandmas Boy, classic .

Living in Buffalo, it seems I can never get enough of pizza, wings and chicken finger subs. Food alone is enough of a reason to live here! Did I mention Mighty Taco? (feel free to google it)

Where do you want to see yourself and My Buffalo shirt 5 years from now?

In general, I’m an overly optimistic person and I constantly reach for bigger and better goals for my company. Here in Buffalo, NY there are a lot of companies that do Buffalo sports related t-shirt / clothing lines. In 5 years I’d like to have My Buffalo Shirt become the top selling Buffalo t-shirt / clothing line in Buffalo.

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who wish to step into the e-commerce world?

I would have to say that starting out with a company is the hardest part. You have to put a lot of time, effort and money into it and hope for the payback. You will doubt yourself many times, but you have to believe in yourself. But if you set your mind to it and keep setting stronger and stronger goals for yourself things will work out. Remember it’s always a work in progress to stay competitive.

Thank you Adam for a wonderful interview, we wish you and My Buffalo Shirt all the success in the future.

Click here to get a chance to win one his amazing T-shirts.