Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
How it all began. My journey. Our journey
Hi everybody this is Thales from Mar Egeu Brazilian bikinis I promised
you all that I'd try to launch or post a video at least once a week so this is
the third consecutive week and this is episode three and today I thought I'd
talk about me which is something I'm not very comfortable talking about and I
wanted to share my story with you because if you're like me one of the
first things I click on when I visit a website is the "About Page" I want to
know who's behind the website and I like to know a little bit about their story
it's a long story but I'll try and keep it short I was born in 1966 in Ames Iowa
and over the many years I got married and have two daughters and they are all
Brazilian and the story begins about 15 years ago when after graduating from
Ball State University with an MBA like all MBA students we work with quadrants
and I was trying to determine the direction of my life and in this
quadrant I remember in the top left hand side
knowing surely that I wanted to deal in the area of import and export at the
bottom left-hand quadrant I filled in some ideas about being in Brazil because
I was in Brazil at the time and knowing that I spoke frequent Portuguese and
write Portuguese so I thought somehow I could leverage being in Brazil and
somehow importing and exporting something the top right hand quadrant I
filled in some of my expertise which was internet
marketing and sales and my love for dealing with people all over the world
so the bottom right had quadrant had to be determining what that product or
service would be I know that it would be based on selling overseas or importing
overseas they would be a supplier producer based in Brazil because I was
in Brazil too and that it would be sold through mainly through the internet and
using sales and marketing techniques online so the big question
was what would that product be and this is where the story gets very very
interesting I listed things that Brazil was very well known for and still is
obviously purses and shoes in fashion and one thing that I zeroed in on were
bikinis and the reason was is I knew we could export large quantities without
requiring a container or ship to load the product so it was easy to send a box
of at least 250 bikinis and have it expedited within a few days to
any country in the world and so I did a google search and up came a few
Brazilian bikini suppliers and the first one was Mar Egeu Brazilian bikinis and
mind you this was almost 15 years ago and this story is really really amazing
I get goosebumps every time I recount it and it's quite moving it is for me
anyway so I I ended up visiting a Mar Egeu's bikini shop it was in Bras in an
area of Sao Paulo and the minute I walked into the store I asked to see the
manager and his name was Nicholas Katsorchis
and I said hi my name is Thales Panagides and he looked up to me and said do
you speak Greek and I froze because why would he ask me a question like that we
were in Sao Paulo population over 11 to 12 million people and I spoke Greek but
never received such a question from someone who was Brazilian I said yes I
speak Greek too and oh my gosh what a coincidence that was you can believe
that it was a miracle almost because it was just so hard to believe but this is
where it gets even more interesting so we obviously hit it off instantly
because Nicholas has roots in Greece and spoke Greek too and so we had an instant
bonding there that solidified and became very very successful over the years so I
ended up purchasing a few samples and back then the only way you could really
sell was on eBay so I took some pictures very amateurish pictures and posted them
on eBay and that night I remembered vividly I had a dream that several it
bikinis I posted had bids on and I didn't know whether they had bids
because back then not everyone had internet and Wi-Fi in their home so I
had to go to the office where I was working at and sorry about that slipped
here and so I so the first coincidence was that I
meant Nicholas who spoke Greek the second one that I had this vivid dream
that there were bids on the bikinis that I posted and finally before
stepping out of the house to see whether there were any bids on eBay at the
office on TV CNN was interviewing this lady in
Aldershot she was a farmer who was hit by the mad cow disease and they asked
her you know how is she getting by now and she said that she was selling
lingerie to overweight women I said oh my gosh you know if this lady can sell
lingerie to overweight women who was a farmer who had very little experience in
online sales imagine what I could do selling Brazilian bikinis in Brazil and
with my background and experience so I got really really excited about them and
so that was the third amazing coincidence all within 24 hours and
finally I head to the office and I logged on the internet and there you go
I had seven bids on the eleven bikinis I posted every one of the office was
cheering and clapping and it was really really exciting I strongly believe that
that thing that life doesn't happen to you but happens for you and so all the
signs were there as Paulo Coelho says the world conspires to make things
happen for those who really believe in it and this was a perfect example of of
it happening it was like the perfect storm it was meant to happen and I share
this story with you because well it's my story we've been together I'm part of
the team embedded in the factory with the whole Mar Egeu team which
they're all incredible and now we export around the world and been together on
this amazing journey so that's kind of my story my background
we support clients of all types students single moms professional models
actresses actors the client profile is inspiring incredible because
there is no typical profile it can be anybody and everybody and that includes
you who are watching and I hope you're inspired and this gives you confidence
that you too can can embark on this amazing journey many of our clients are
repeat customers which shows it is viable and they come back year after
year sometimes two three times a year to launch their own collection and so
that that's the story and I hope you now know a little bit more about me and I
hope you like these videos and I will continue to post one try to post one
once a week and there you go all the best thank you so much for watching and
I want you to know how grateful and appreciative I am of all of you who are
watching who are considering buying becoming a customer and those who are
not considering it's just fun to be a part of this okay all the best now thank
you bye bye