Today we’d like to introduce you to SemaJ Harris.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My fiancée and I started our custom apparel printing business, Flex Embroidery, in February of 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic. We both worked in the kitchen of a senior-living facility, where every day, there seemed to be new cases of someone catching the deadly virus. At the time, we had just been aware that we were having our first child, so with so many new cases popping up, we had made the decision to leave the job and start down a completely new path. We actually started our business off selling custom facemasks until my in-laws, who have been in the embroidery and printing game for over 25 years, decided to partner with us and teach us how to get things started. When we first got started with Flex Embroidery, we only had a 1×4 manual screen-printing press and a small cricut vinyl cutter. Every penny and dime went into investing into something bigger and better. We’ve spent countless hours studying the best brands for embroidery machines, embroidery tips & tricks, different apparel printing methods. Within months’ time, we were able to purchase our first SWF 15 Needle 2 Head commercial embroidery machine. Since then, we’ve dedicated our time into providing quality custom embroidery, high-resolution directly printed garments, and making sure our clients are heard, appreciated, and valued.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I can honestly say that quitting cold turkey from working an everyday 9-5, for the both of us, has been a roller coaster ride. Just like all other businesses starting off, there’s times when business is booming, and then there’s times when things are SLOW. Running a business full time and being full-time parents can sometimes collide with each other and get a little out of hand, but being a strong family with strong ambitions to one day be the biggest custom apparel printing company in the state or maybe even the country makes it very possible to get it all done. In the beginning, we did struggle a lot with getting our business known in the San Diego area. We would message every small business on Instagram and even go out from business to business to try and get our work out there, but either some people already had someone to do their printing work for them or just wasn’t interested. Eventually, we began to show our faces in the community more by showing up to local pop-up shops, car shows, small business-themed activities, or even calling up local businesses on the localmediasandiego.com page to see if they’d be interested in starting up an interested in starting up an order with us. Business has picked up a lot since the beginning, not exactly where we would like to be, but definitely extremely thankful for all the orders we do get , big and small. With confidence, patience and consistency you can accomplish more than you think, so yeah overall the road has had its challenges but we get up every day ready to face them.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
At Flex Embroidery, we provide quality custom embroidery, high-resolution directly printed garments, & screen printing. We also vector & rasterize logo designs as well as digitize in-house. We print & embroider on garments from Hats, hoodies, jackets, Demin-wear, T-shirts, etc. We are known for keeping up with our fast turnaround times of 3-14 business days. Our biggest accomplishment is that even when times get tough, we stick through it, and we do it together. There’s truly no “I” in “TEAM”; everybody apart of this helps out, even our clients. Without our family, clients, and God, we would have no business, no home to work out of, no constant reminder that everything is possible just with a little hard work and dedication, and no faith; without all of those combined, there would be no Flex Embroidery.
What does success mean to you?
Success is the amount of work you put in. Whether it be time, whether it be effort, skill, networking, ambition, it could be love, it could be the feeling of change, or even wanting to change. Whatever it is that you want to do, you have to be hungry and execute. Stay heavily motivated, stress-free, above your emotions, and most importantly, be consistent, and success will follow you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.flexembroidery.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/flex.embroidery
