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[AyAyAy: Inspired Fitness Apparel]
>>Beth Holbrook: In the
entrepreneur and business world, you may have a good idea, but what will make your idea
different? How will you stand out? I am Beth Holbrook with the Zions Bank Business Resource
Center. I’m here today with Christina Johnson, owner/operator
of AyAyAy apparel, and we are talking here today about her experience
with the Business Resource Center. Thanks for joining us today, Christina.
Tell me, what is AyAyAy apparel?
>>Christina Johnson: AyAyAy is a hybrid of fashion with fitness, so its fashion forward
active wear.
>>Beth Holbrook: Okay, tell me then, I love the idea because I think that obviously, people
are very into fitness these days, but how did you come up with this
idea? Why did you decide to go into this apparel business?
>>Christina Johnson: Well, about nine years ago I started teaching fitness classes. I
had never been a very active person, but I started teaching Zumba,
which is like dance and fitness at the same time, at the University
of Utah is where I started teaching. And the first year I started teaching, I went to a
big sports store to look for clothes to wear and I just grabbed
as many colors as I could and tried to find as many things that made
my out-of-shape body look good. And, you know, after of years of teaching and not really
finding what I loved - sleek, modern lines, edgy looks, cut outs,
cool layering – that’s the stuff I liked in my normal fashion but I
couldn’t find it for my classes. So I decided to make clothes like that, you know, that
I couldn’t really find anywhere else. So clothes out of fabrics that would
absorb sweat, wick it away from your body, be comfortable, very easy
to move in, and look cool at the same time.
>>Beth Holbrook: Tell us about some of the early struggles that you faced and how you
came to come see me at the Business Resource Center.
>>Christina Johnson: Well, at the very beginning, I knew I had this huge vision and I thought
I’d just, you know, take it step by step, spend as much as I had and then get
scared into finding money, right? And that’s how much faith I had in my
business, right, that I was willing to put it all on the line and move forward. So, I
started by going to Los Angeles, going to the Garment District, making patterns,
and just developing the base of my business. I think I made about 30
different designs while I was there, which I haven’t yet released, and from then on
I started mass-producing those designs. And I had walls in my house full
of clothing and I didn’t know what to do with it. And so I decided to
throw a party, and I did a party at some fitness instructor’s house down in Provo/Orem area
and I sold $5,000 worth of clothes; and I thought that wasn’t bad.
I am really good at throwing parties, so it was kind of easy, right? And as
soon as I started selling more and more, women were saying "we want skorts, we want tennis
dresses, we want different kinds of sports bras," and I realized
- Okay, I can’t have an in–and-out business with four items on the
menu. I’m in apparel; I need to diversify, you know, my product line. And so I started
looking for money, for more money, because in order to do apparel and have a
business that people can take seriously, you have to have a nice broad
line of clothes, right? And so I started looking for money, I started going to all these entrepreneurial
breakfasts and lunches and dinners and conferences, and they told me about Zions and about Beth
Holbrook, and that I should meet with you, and this is various
people telling me this, and so I decided to give you a call and we
started lunching.
>>Beth Holbrook: And I love that element. I love to be able to help business owners
kind of get a vision, and at the same time, really narrow their
focus so they can really expand and work their business to the next level.
Thanks again for joining us today, Christina. We appreciate it.
>>Christina Johnson: Thank you.
>>Beth Holbrook: To see more videos like this, subscribe to the Zions Direct YouTube channel.