A few years ago, Mathias Schrøder was emphasized, fired and confused. He changed his income in his Danish clothing society, but inflated direction meant small profits and even less free time.
“I felt lost, unable to fix our trouble,” he told me, “I realized I was trying to solve the wrong problem.”
Its solution was a scale down. He fired employees, reduced warehouse costs and removed stagnant supplies. The result was 60% less returned and 25% more profit.
Shared his way in our recent conversation. The whole sound is inserted below. The transcription is condensed and adjusted for clarity.
Eric Bandholz: Who are you and what are you doing?
Mathias Schrøder: I was in electronic trading for about seven or eight years, I work for patina, my family’s clothing company and as a consultant and developer. Before that, I had a short stint as an analyst for an investment company. I quickly realized that it was for me – wearing followed and the tie and the following orders.
One thing led to the other and in 2018 I joined my parents’ business and sold clothes for women 65 years and older. At that time we made small numbers, around $ 300 to $ 400 per month. We have been moving forward quickly and at physical places in Denmark, Sweden and Germany, and we generate around $ 3 to $ 4 million annually.
We recently decided to reduce our return to get more freedom. The original concept was to load clothes into large vans, go to delttlement houses or other places where seniors gather, present small fashion shows and sell clothes then. We are still doing it, but now we are focusing on scaling to have more control over our time.
Bandholz: What led you to this choice?
Schrøder: The decision began a few years ago when we and my girlfriend are a holiday in Thailand. I love running business, but I realized there were more. I was more emphasized, burned down and did not hit the number we needed.
We had inflated budgets, excess supplies, too much employed and warehouse. I felt a lost, unable to fix our prediction, which I realized I was trying to solve the wrong problem.
So I told my girlfriend, “I have this crazy idea. What if they just fire everyone? Why are they still trying to run faster? “Créred numbers in Google sheets. I started lubricating employees, lubricating the cost of warehouses, lubrication X, Y and Z. I quickly realized that we could reduce the return without injury.
That was the beginning of the day. And it worked.
Implementation of changes took some time. In Denmark we can not just fire people, for examination. Until November 2024, we have completed most of the reduction. Our return of that month was about $ 800,000, out of $ 2 million in November 2023 – less than half. But profits increased by 25%!
We killed 60% of the income and made much more money. It’s a lesson for all entrepreneurs. We should all honestly look in the mirror and ask, “Why do we do that?”
I have more time to work on projects that I enjoy. For example, I launch an analytical application for shoppers called Kleio, inspired by the Greek shell history to help others manage their data at a much more affordable price. It is a passionate project and excited to share it with traders who want to better understand their number.
Bandholz: Where can people follow you?
Schrøder: Our page of electronic trading is patinamode.de. It is in German and unfortunately we cannot send to the US. The Analytics app is on Getkleio.com. I’m on X and LinkedIn.