Modern Activists’ Armed With Technology.
Gone are the days of long hair, free love, and drug abuse. Today’s activists are technology savvy, trendy, and innovative. Take Aggressive founder and owner Reggie DeShields Jr. This 27 year old architecture student has built a clothing line of politically conscious apparel that boasted earnings of 1.2 million dollars in 2006. The young activist/entrepreneur reflects on the company’s almost accidental beginnings.
“It just started out as more of an emotion than an idea. I was always passionate about things I felt were wrong with the world and things that I wanted to change. I was seeing all of these injustices and it angered me so much. I had to get some of that anger out, so I learned how to make my own t-shirts with messages showing what I wanted the world to know. After a while people started asking me ‘where did you get that shirt?’ When I told them ‘I made it’, they asked me if I could make them one too. Then, when I put the shirts on a website, aggressivetees.com was born.”
What started as an emotional release for the young husband and father quickly turned into a full-time project as he was forced to quit his day job. Being computer savvy was a key factor in the endeavor’s early success as Reggie immediately began harnessing the power of the internet to promote his brand. Through affiliates groups, pay per click advertising, online social groups, free classifieds, and SEO, his business grew more swiftly than he could handle alone. Fast forward 2 years later, and Aggressive now houses 18 employees in its New Jersey office.
Even still, he has managed to remain humble in the midst of all this success stating that, “the reason my business took off so fast was because I had a message of liberty, and liberty is contagious. All I really had to do was fan the flames.”
Who has changed the world more? Was it the rebellious, marijuana smoking hippies who complained about the man all day while listening to music? Or is it the technically inclined, businessperson activists of today? You be the judge.
Reggie’s only advice for anyone thinking of starting an activism business is, “Remember that it doesn’t matter if you see immediate success with trying to educate people or make a positive change in the world. There is no such thing as being unsuccessful when it comes to these endeavors because you are planting seeds that will grow to make the world a better place even after you’re dead and gone. If that isn’t success, I don’t know what is.”
About:
Aggressive customer service department can be reached at customerservice@aggressivetees.com and their sales are offered at www.aggressivetees.com.
Who's changed the world more? 60s hippies, or tech savvy activists like www.aggressivetees.com owner reggie?
Hippies.
