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Entrepreneur: Jeron Soup


I


dea: 49Dzine, Custom native apparel for the culturally minded, North American Indigenous person. The story: The story of 49Dzine is one


born out of an item of clothing and the power of social media. A peacoat…seen in a Facebook post got the ball rolling and Jeron Soup and his partner have taken that ball and been running with it since. 49Dzine started out as an online entity, with each indigenous item being hand sewn and then sold online. That model worked so well Jeron was able to begin mass production and eventually open a store in Calgary, with plans to expand to Edmonton and beyond in the future. As Jeron puts it “we kind of did things backwards, going the online route first, then into a physical location, but for our business it was the right decision.” The story of 49Dzine was so successful it landed in the pages of the Wall Street Journal as a small business focusing on the power of Shopify and e-commerce as a new way to conduct business in today’s world. Technology: The move from hand


sewn apparel to a more powerful way to produce garments is one of the technologies that has helped Jeron along during his entrepreneurial journey. Another big component to his story is the way he and his partners are using the power of social media, analytics, and algorithms to determine marketing strategies. In this world ‘content is king’ but what if nobody sees your content? Jeron has invested the time and money to make sure the companies content is seen and delivered to as many people as possible. His analytics and research tell him lately to not dump money on paid ads right now as the US election has overwhelmed that medium…so he will wait and plan for after that day in November. These types of decisions are assisted by the abundance of research and numbers that he has at his disposal in almost real time. Validation: Jeron put the time in


validating the market for indigenous apparel by doing what most entrepreneurs do…taking it to market and talking with customers. Through grant money received from Blood Tribe Economic Development in 2018, Jeron purchased a trailer and hit the road with product in hand. He mentioned that sales from the venture may not have been the best; but the real value in this adventure was the opportunity to meet people and market the business on a personable level. These ventures helped create the customer base now enjoying creations and content by 49Dzine.


Partnership: As mentioned


earlier, the support from Blood Tribe Economic Development helped with some initial costs. Jeron has also been a regular at Tecconnect classes including entrepreneurial courses that helped him with his business model. Jeron has also created new partnerships on the wholesaling side of the sector with the creators of Social Distance Powwow. Success: The success of 49Dzine is abundant. You can track it in the number of garments sold or revenue generated from those sales. You can also track it by the number of loyal followers that subscribe and follow their social media channels. The biggest indication of success for Jeron are the days when he has people in his Calgary store and finds out they drove all the way from Regina and are waiting outside for them to open at 10:00 a.m. – or that they drove down from Fort McMurray for the day and are driving back home right after shopping at 49Dzine.


8• Lethbridge ENTREPRENEURS


Jeron Soup


www.49dzine.ca @49dzine


@49dzine


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