When the world was struggling with recession, Jason Sadler was lying on his bed thinking of an idea where he can make a living by wearing t-shirts and putting his 10 years of designing, advertising and social media experience to use.
He launched his company in October, 2008 with a simple yet brilliantly executed concept: Companies can hire his team of 5 to wear their t-shirts on the day(s) bought by them, and also gain social media exposure through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Ustream.
"I've always been a creative thinker and, of course, have always worn shirts like everyone else. When the Million Dollar Homepage became a sensation a few years ago I knew there had to be something I could come up with that would hopefully be as successful and, maybe down the road, just as profitable." shares Jason in an interview with Entrepreneur.com. And with this he decided to become a human billboard and dedicate 365 days to promoting and advertising companies that hire him and his team.
I found his pricing concept to be as interesting as his business idea: He sold his first day (1 Jan 2009) on 11th November 2008 for $1 because it was the first day of the year, for the second day he charged $2, $3 for the 3rd day, $10 for the 10th and $365 for the last day of the year.
Here's how IWYS works:
Here's how IWYS works:
- Companies can view a calender on their website and book available day or multiple days, on these days the entire team of IWYS will wear the company's t-shirt and click photographs, create videos and move out in the public as human billboards.
- The team also creates content about a company and publish it on their homepage, they create 5 fun, creative and witty YouTube videos.
- Five live videos are streamed on Ustream for 3 hours.
- All of this stuff is then heavily shared and marketed through Facebook and Twitter.
- They can also conduct giveaway contests for companies.
According to testimonials on their website, companies like Chegg and Smarties hired their services and in return they gained thousands of followers on Twitter and Facebook, apart from huge number of views on YouTube and Ustream.
When he began in 2009 solo he used to charge $1 per day, with addition of another member he started charging $2 since two people will be wearing a t-shirt and with current 5 members in the team IWYS charges increases by $5 per day.
On the first year of his business he earned $70,000 and claim to sell 115 days of 2010 within 24 hours of opening his appointment book. When asked for an advice, here's what Sadler had to say:
"Don't try to be someone you're not and stop working for crappy companies. There are so many other companies out there that need talented people, you are never stuck at a dead-end job and should focus on what you are truly passionate about. A true entrepreneur doesn't complain about their situation, they figure out how to innovate and move on."
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