Today we’d like to introduce you to Tolis Keivani.
Hi Tolis, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I am Greek-Albanian I was a professional boxing fighter and I came in the US six years ago. I came without knowing anyone I wasn’t speaking English I had no money and living in a house with 16 more people, so while I was training to fight professional boxing I had to make money for living so I start working in a pizza place and eventually in restaurants.
Due to some inconvenience, I wasn’t able to fight but my passion for boxing was always there, so I started training people while I was working in the restaurants.
In January 2020, I quit working in the restaurants and my full-time job was as a boxing trainer but then is when COVID happened and I started receiving unemployment money from the government.
So basically, with the unemployment money, I built my brand.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I wouldn’t say that it was very bad because my ambition is much bigger than any problems, but definitely, I went through some hard times and is still going, I believe that in running a business you will always have to deal with problems, you just need to figure out the solutions. The hardest part for me it was that I never had a business before, my whole life I was a fighter so for me that was completely something new.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are selling Boxing gear for all the levels; we have top names of professional fighters using our brand and people that they just started boxing. We are specialized in finding the perfect glove-gear for our clients depending on their goal and their training purpose.
What set us apart from other brands there are several things, my experience in boxing about 15+ years, the communication that I have daily with our fighters and our trainers to discuss what we need to change and how to make our gear better and last but not least our customer service, my phone is open 24/7 we respond our emails and messages right away and we are making sure that the clients will purchase the right product for them.
I am most proud that elite professional boxing and ufc fighters are using our gear daily and we are already one of the most popular and upcoming best boxing brands in the world as I said that we will be.
I want everyone to know that our vision is not only making the best boxing brand in the world but that we want to make a better world through boxing, helping kids that they are on the streets without help, getting them into boxing-helping people that they go through hard times and spread the word of how boxing can change your life.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
To be honest, I had great people helping me at some parts of my business but I don’t have a mentor and I do need one, the more I want to escalate my business the more I feel that I need a mentor.
What worked best for me is, going to the boxing gyms (most of the time without even an appointment just showing up) introducing myself and my product and be honest of what product I had and what I could provide.
My best advice would get the clients to know you, introduce yourself nobody wants to pay a Shopify platform they want to know where their money goes, and when you build that relationship they will keep buying from you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tkboxingequipment.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tkboxingear/
