Interview with Local Advancer’s Peter Takis

The biggest setback that people take before starting a business, is taking the first step and just doing it. They want to, but they make up excuses in their mind… “I have a full time job,” “I don’t have the time with having to watch my kids,” I’m too old,” or “I’m too young.” Let be the one to tell you, no, you’re not too young. If you don’t want to listen to me, then listen to Peter Takis. He started his brand, Local Advancers, when he was 15. Now at 16, he’s doing great. I really liked that fact that he knows that he is NOT too young to do anything and doesn’t listen to people who tell him he is. I had to ask for an interview to get a little more information from and how he does it.

 

PCT: K, you knew this was coming… how old were you when you first realized you wanted to get into business and start Local Advancers?

PT: Probably 10 [laughs] – back then it was just starting a brand. I started working on L.A. when I was 14.

PCT: and you released when you were 15?

PT: Yep. I’m now 16.

PCT: What happened or what did you see that made you want to do this? Was it one of your parents or family members that inspired you? When I was 10 I was playing Ocarina of Time on N64 all day only thinking about how to get to the next level [laughs].

PT: Ive always dug streetwear- I used to spend ALL my bday and chirstmas money at this one shop that carried The Hundreds, Stussy, HUG, and Obey … that shop just ordered 30 pieces. And both of my parents work regualr 9-5 and have never ran a biz. I learned everything from the ground up, they were more ignorant on biz than myself at age 10 [laughs].

PCT: That’s awesome. I didn’t give a damn about clothes at that age [laughs]. Has anyone helped you along the way? Any mentors?

PT: Brandon Herbel of Make Believe – Kyle Crawford of EZ [Electric Zombie] and Rob Dobi of Full Bleed have perosnlly reached out to me.

PCT: Nice! I’ve done a little work on Make Believe, Electric Zombie, but not yet Full Bleed. I gotta check them out.

PT: Ya man you should

PCT: So you are the founder and creator of Local Advancers… What else does Peter Takis do?

PT: Yep I own and do EVERTHING with L.A, but I also own AmbitiousYouth.com, a blog for young people trying to do big things. I also have a book dropping in the next month entited “Ambitious Youth: 4 Laws To Doing Big Things At A Young Age”. Should be avlaible in iBooks for April or so.

PCT: That is a lot of food on the table! Very inspiring… Do you do your own designs as well?

PT: No sir! I’m LAME at photshop, I hire designers like Brandon from MB [Make Believe] and David Smith. Those guys are the heart of L.A

PCT: I feel you on that. I suck at photoshop and illustrator, but I’m not too bad with a real paint brush! [laughs]. Tell me more about Ambitiousyouth.com. Why did you start it?

PT: I basicaly used to write articles on PETERTAKIS.com for my supporters, but that blew up and recieved hundreds (some days a thousand) hits per day. So I just said it’s time to make some profit off my words, so I launched a more marketable blog, thats still extremly helpful but know has ads. Those ads sold out for months just an hour after after posting 1 single tweet about em.

PCT: That’s pretty amazing for just starting out! So a lot of people (old enough to work) have shitty jobs they go to just to listen to someone else telling them what to do. They have no freedom to work when, where, and how hard they want. And they work to help someone else make money. Starting a blog is not hard to do at all. To post interesting articles that people want to read and get advertisers is another thing. But if one were successful at this, such as you, how much can one expect to make?

PT: If your passionate about starting a blog, you have a niche and write daily posts, the sky is the limit for profit. $200 extra income per month is compeltely possible.

PCT: There are so many possibilities that we can do and make money from home instead of going to jobs we hate and spending most of our time doing nothing for ourselves. A clothing company is also completely possible. Besides your website, the book you are writing and Local Advancers, do you have a regular job?

PT: Yep, I work at Sport Check part time. I love fitness and that job offers a bit of extra money.

PCT: It sounds like things are picking up with Local Advancers. Do you plan to quit Sport Check soon?

PT: Nah. I like it there. Fitness inspires me and I love helping unhealthy people pick up new shoes or golf clubs to get them active!

PCT: It sounds like you to help and educate people.

PT: Ya its rad to get people motivated and ready to “just do it”. Or better yet “always advance”.

PCT: [laughs] Exactly. You wouldn’t believe how similar we are [laughs]. For people who are thinking of starting a clothing brand, would you recommend it?

PT: Yep! Whatever your passionate about you should go get. I dont care what, if thats what you’re here to do… GO DO IT! I wish passionate teens luck in this biz. I WANT there to be brands to compete with mine. There is plenty of room at the top and I’m ready to share it with motivated teens!

PCT: That’s really cool. Competition is always beneficial. What are your plans for your future? Are you going to go to College? What are you going to study?

PT: Yep I’ll be studing biz, duh [laughs]. I actually am hoping to study at UCLA and get out of the cold up here in Canada

PCT: UCLA would be great. That’s about 30 minutes from me. I’m studying Finance and Real Estate at California State University Fullerton. Its a very highly rated business school in the United States. Its definitely worth a look over if you’re thinking about coming down here to study business! So with the all the projects and businesses you have your hands in, do you still find time to party [laughs]?

PT: Ya I do. Every weekend I chill with the homies. Go to parties and be a teen. Just Mon-Fri is stircktly biz time. I go hard on Saturday [laughs].

PCT: [laughs] Nice nice. A balance between work and personal life is extremely important to one’s success and happiness. Any last words or shout outs?

PT: No man, thats it! New LocalAdvancers.com drops in a month , book drops in a month. That’s it!

 

Facebooktwitterredditpinterest