It is fun because you're meeting new people

There is something unearthly magical about having a pair of limited-edition, rare or highly sought-after sneakers.
It comes the minute you crack open the lid on the quality-crafted shoebox, peel back the uncrinkled tissue paper and lay your eyes on your brand new kicks (don't even get me started on the glorious odor of new leather, combined with rubber and Velcro!). Pretty close to heaven, right?
One person you never know this exact feeling is Noah Vitale, a sophomore at Los Osos Senior high school in Rancho Cucamonga. The 16-year old finds a method to capture that bit of sneaker-heaven and produce it to sneakerheads around the world through his upstart company, Vitale Kicks.
Not only is Noah an honors student, maintaining a 4.5 GPA and person in the Grizzlies' team, he's additionally a consummate professional who are able to be found hours before school starts at his desk completing orders, answering customer emails and searching for exclusive sneaks for a fanatical subculture of sneaker aficionados.
In only 6 months time, Vitale Kicks has earned over $250,000 dollars in product sales, because of a low-supply-high-demand market and a lot of hard work and commitment from Noah.
Not long ago i sat down with the young entrepreneur to chat about how exactly he turned their own sneaker obsession into a thriving business.
Quesiton: I love your organization logo. Who designed it?
Noah Vitale: My brother Nick designed it. He's 18 and a senior at Los Osos. We sat down together eventually and just put it together. People appear to enjoy it therefore it exercised very well.
Q: So what is Vitale Kicks?
Noah: Basically it's this - Nike and Jordan brands will to produce series of limited shoes be it shoes from Air Jordan or Nike Running or anything like this. And since they're limited, you will see a huge demand for them.
Therefore we try to buy them from retail stores after which mark them up once we have them in our hands. So, say we have a shoe that retails for $160 dollars, and it's sold-out in stores all across the United States. We'll take that shoe and sell it for maybe $230 dollars on our website.
We are able to do that because there's such a huge demand and also you can't get into a retail store and buy them. So, the only real option is to purchase it from a so-called reseller, that is somebody like us.
Q: So, if Nike drops a restricted edition Air Force 1, and that i don't want to sit before Undefeated for 2 days, I'm able to call you up?
Noah: Yeah, exactly. We actually have people who do sit beyond stores on release day and then after they get the shoes we'll sell them a little bit over retail. So yeah, definitely any type of shoe crampon mercurial as an Air Force 1 we can do the exact same thing.
Q: As a consumer, I think that's well worth the mark-up right there because who has time to sit before an outlet for days?
Noah: Yeah, definitely.
Q: So do you employ people to sit out in front of stores?
Noah: Yeah occasionally we all do. I'll pay friends say $20 bucks for just one night to camp by helping cover their us. That's one of the many ways we will get the shoes.
Q: What are some other ways?
Noah: We buy them on the internet and direct from retailers like Footlocker or NikeTown. We'll enter raffles. They're not the easiest to get. It is a complicated process. Over time we've developed friends and a network of people like store managers and such.
Q: It actually sounds fun.
Noah: It is fun because you're meeting new people and it is thrilling every weekend to get as numerous shoes as you possibly can and also at the same time frame I'm with all my friends. It's a good experience, together with creating a good profit every weekend.
Q: Basically, you've created a business from your hobby.
Noah: Definitely, because it all began with an interest in these kind of limited-edition shoes. And then realizing that there is a large potential chance to produce a business making a little money.
However it all was initially a spare time activity of collecting and wearing these footwear. So, it is a company along with a hobby at the same time.
Q: When have you start it and how old were you?
Noah: Well I was 15 years old and that i started the company in April of 2013.
Q: Do you remember the precise moment the concept sparked?
Noah: It started when my dad and that i were outside of a Finish Line one night, where these were carrying out a raffle and we could get two pairs of Jordans.
As soon as we left from the store some people stopped us and offered us an enormous $150 dollars over-retail for them. I was like, 'Wow did that actually just happen'?
It motivated my dad too because usually whenever you tell a parent or gaurdian about doing something similar to this they'd say, 'Nah, there's no way! You can't go buy a shoe that's inside a store and resell it for additional.'
But because soon as somebody around the sidewalk stopped my dad and said, "Hey, I'll take those for $280 dollars right now," I think that actually kind of lit the spark for everything.
Q: It really helps to have your dad in your corner doesn't it?
Noah: Yeah it definitely did assistance to have my father on my side. When someone my age is starting off they're not going to have the revenue so that you can buy 100 pairs of trainers. So having my dad that helped me to out (and his charge card) was definitely a great benefit.
But, my parents are always supportive of whatever I actually do. After i told my dad I needed to get this done, he was all for it because when I was a younger kid I'd another business and he saw how well Used to do with this.
Q: What's the most expensive shoe you've sold?
Noah: Nike includes a foundation with Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, Oregon. In the first of the year they released a shoe known as the Nike Air Doernbecher that retailed for $250 dollars and we sold it for $1300 dollars.
So that would be a large profit. It had been kind of tough to find a buyer so when we found one for your price it was satisfying. And we could obtain a couple pairs of those. That was definitely our biggest sale.
Q: What's been the most interesting shoe you've sold?
Noah: We're working on that right now. We possess a shoe known as the Nike Air Yeezy that is a collaboration between the hip-hop artist Kanye West and Nike. The shoe retails at $250 dollars and it is currently reselling on an average of about $4,000 to $5,000 dollars.
We have one pair in our hands at this time and we're just waiting to obtain the right buyer who will pull the trigger. But that is definitely our best shoe that we've ever endured.
Q: How can you go about selling footwear that's worth so much? It may sound almost dangerous.
Noah: Right! We've had it in our possession a little over a month and also the challenge with a shoe such as this is that you simply need to be careful about how exactly you sell it because with such a huge demand, it's dangerous to satisfy up for a shoe that's worth $4,000 dollars.
So you've to become careful. But we're definitely keeping it safe until we find the right buyer. That will be nice after we allow that to go.
Q: Nice payday! Exactly what do you typically do with the profits you earn?
Noah: I'll occasionally buy myself clothes but many from the cash is put away within my bank account and in the bank for school.
Also, I simply bought myself an Audi. So, that's one helluva first car for me personally. But other than that, I just put it away for college.
Q: How amazed are you currently whenever you relax and find out the success you've been in a position to create from reselling sneakers?
Noah: It's amazing. After i was driving home from buying my Audi, I was just thinking, 'Wow! This thing that i am doing has resulted in me having one of these car.'
It is simply great to see hard work repay.
Q: Exactly what do your pals consider Vitale Kicks?
Noah: You know my buddies are actually those that I'll bring beside me to get shoes and I'll pay them for coming beside me.
I'll text them some nights and say, 'Hey you guys right down to visit La beside me this weekend to get some shoes chaussure de foot pas cher? I'm paying everybody so-and-so amount of dollars.'
And often, they do not even want to be paid since it is only a thrilling experience to visit right down to these populated areas and also to be around these folks who're crazy for sneakers. And it's fun to walk from the stores with exclusive shoes and everybody's looking at us saying, "Oh look, look, look, they got this or that."
So my friends have definitely helped me be where I am today and have been a source of support and have solved the problem throughout everything.
And the best thing about it is, a number of my friends have actually started their own sneaker reselling businesses on the smaller level. It's cool to see that influence spread throughout all of the number of my buddies and also to see them have success too using what they're doing. Sometimes they'll ask me for help and i am more than pleased to assist them to.
Q: Are your customers surprised once they find out that you are a high school kid?
Noah: Well, I only tell people I'm near to but when I actually do let them know I'm 16, they're very surprised. Contrary they believe it's really cool that someone younger than them could be doing something like this.
Q: The testimonial page in your web site is just photo after photo of super-stoked people showing off the shoes they purchased from you. How satisfying is the fact that?
Noah: The customer appreciation is fairly cool. That's one of the best parts is to begin to see the customer testimonials. They're a real big assistance to our company and it is rewarding whenever we get those back.
Sometimes we'll even hand out discounts if customers post a testimonial because that attracts a lot of individuals that haven't purchased in us. People will look at that and say, 'Oh those guys are legit ' they are fully aware what they are doing.'
Q: What's the biggest challenge you've faced as a young entrepreneur?
Noah: My biggest challenge is maintaining school and the business simultaneously. I'm taking all AP and Honors classes and hold a 4.5 GPA. When I go back home It's my job to have 3-hours of homework so when I'm playing soccer I won't get home until 5 p.m.
Then I'll have 40,000 people on social media that are emailing and contacting me about their order or about the shoes that are coming out and asking if I'm getting certain shoes. So that's definitely hard attempting to balance all that.
But I think I've type of found that balance. I take some time out at a certain hour to resolve emails, to return to customers, and also to post on social networking. Then obviously, I take out other time to do school work along with other stuff that are more important.
Q: Time management is surely a skill isn't it?
Noah: Yeah, it is something I've learned to complete.
Q: What exactly are your plans after senior high school?
Noah: I don't know what college I wish to visit yet, however i intend to go right into a 4-year school. I also plan on hopefully running multiple businesses when I'm from high school.
However i will visit college with either a Business or Information technology Major and hopefully produce other businesses on my hands at that time.
Q: Who're some of your influences or people who have inspirited you?
Noah: I'd say an entrepreneur like Mark Cuban. Or you watch the show Shark Tank, those people on the website. It's inspiring to determine how successful they're and how they can help people by helping cover their businesses and stuff.
Q. Ever consider taking Vitale Kicks on Shark Tank?
Noah: Not necessarily. You know, there's over 10,000 individuals who do the exact same thing as Vitale Kicks. It isn't like we're some unique thing. We've just found a way to achieve success.
Q: What have you learned is an essential aspect of developing a successful at-home business?
Noah: How large social networking is within relation to how it can help a business. I began last year with one follower on Instagram and now I have over 40,000 followers. Social networking has really helped grow my business and it's one of the most basic factors for any business nowadays.
Also the importance of good customer support is big. Like I said earlier, since the shoes are so expensive, individuals are sometimes afraid to spend so much money. I'd be nervous too basically was spending $400 dollars or more. When you contact a customer, you're making them feel at ease regarding their purchase.
So, without a doubt social media and good customer support would be the two most significant things in having a company.
Q: A lot of young adults consider starting their very own business or doing something entrepreneurial like you. What sort of advice can you give a teenager with a really good idea and wishes to take it one stage further?
Noah: I would tell others to look around and find out what other people are doing. Because when I was starting the business, I looked up with other resellers and learned from them. So one of the most important things would be to take advice and examine other coffee shops and make upon that.
And also, not be afraid of just starting out. Decide to have it going. Since you can have so many thoughts when creating a company and be thinking, 'I do and I want to do that.'
But you have to go and do it. Eventually everything works out.
So my advice could be learn and take advice from others and have confidence in yourself and do not be afraid to simply start. Take a chance and just start.
Q: Just do it! Because the famous shoemaker says!
Noah: Exactly! Simply do it!