Texas Designer Creates “Flags For Good”

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

Welcome to episode 1403, which just so happens to be going out on election day. That's right, today is the US presidential election. Many of us here in the United States are paying close attention to it as are people all over the world. I am well aware that there's a lot at stake here in this election. So I am wishing you well, whatever you're up to, however you feel and whatever happens tonight and in the days to come. So just to be clear, whatever side of these issues

and such you're on, I do wish you well. I personally don't pretend to be neutral or apolitical. I think that's almost impossible these days. I actually think it's okay and fine and important perhaps to share your opinion about this election and what kind of world we want to live in and so on. But I also have a big tent philosophy. I have readers and listeners out there from all different

backgrounds. So I do hope most of all that we're able to come together in as many ways as possible as we go into the rest of what has been a very challenging year for so many people. And because it's election day, today we're talking about flags. That is right, a story about flags. We're calling it Texas Designer Creates Flags for Good. And in this story, that designer and

longtime flag enthusiast uses his passion to create those flags for good, advancing a message of positive change. Of course, this is Seydesel School. So in addition to advancing his message of positive change, he's also doing pretty well himself with it, which is great. I don't think you have to choose between those two things. So I'm going to tell you about that in this story.

It's coming up after this brief message from our sponsor. Please stay tuned. Michael Green loves flags. He grew up admiring them, and that passion only grew stronger as he got older. As an adult, he started his career as a graphic designer and realized that flags are a type of branding element. The simple shapes and colors can evoke strong emotions in people,

and they can be representative of a shared sense of identity. In 2019, Michael decided to put all of his knowledge about flags into a TEDx talk. He wanted to help people think deeper about something that they had perhaps taken for granted. Not only that, but he wanted to show how flags can create unity, like the pride flags flown in the LGBTQ community. That TEDx talk went over well, and a few months later, the larger TED entity reached out to Michael asking him to feature his talk on their site. This was a big deal because only about 1% of TEDx talks are ever featured by the

main TED. They also asked if he wanted to include a call to action for them to link to at the end of the talk. Now this request couldn't have come at a better time. Infuriated by the death of George Floyd, Michael had been wanting to do something to further the Black Lives Matter movement. When TED reached out, it was the push he needed to start his own flag business centered around causes he believed in. He had to work fast to get things ready before his talk was featured. A tight timing

might have caused someone else to wave a white flag and surrender, but he was determined. For nearly a week, he only slept from 4am to 8am, spending the rest of his time after his day job, applying for tax certificates, jumping through legal hurdles, and trying to figure out how to actually start a business. This business would be called Flags for Good. He chose to get set up on Shopify. He liked that they made it simple and easy. He also liked Shopify because he could look

through all the available app add-ons to see what other elements he might need to include. Of course, Shopify benefits from this too, but some of the add-ons are in fact helpful. Just a couple weeks after he set his mind to it, Michael ran the flag up the pole on his endeavor. His first designs were a few different Black Lives Matter flags and one that says climate change is real. He set his prices at around $20, a careful decision based on research. Michael didn't want his flags to be thin,

cheap flags, but he also didn't want them to be the really nice $40 ones that no one would want to carry to a rally or hang outside. He invested $2,000 in his first batch of inventory then opened the website for pre-orders. It didn't take long for those pre-orders and then orders to come in. The exposure from the TED Talk was great for sales. Beyond that, Michael spent some money in running Google Ads to spread the word. He also said that the timing of the launch was ideal.

People are actively searching for protest flags, so his product has been well received. He has also seen big spikes in sales in response to other current events. For example, he released a flag when Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away, and many people bought it to honor her memory. Not only does Michael get to spend more time surrounded by his passion, he also gets to run his business in a way that aligns with his values. He prioritizes minimizing the environmental impact of flags for good by using as little plastic as possible. He also uses compostable shipping bags and hopes to continue to lower their carbon

footprint. Finally, he donates 10% of each flag sale to an organization that matches the message of the flag. He hopes to increase that percentage over time and has already given $7,500 to organizations in the four months they've been open. So if you do the math there, you can see, well, this is going really well. Quite a significant business in just a few months.

In Michael's mind, his product would not truly be flags for good if it contributed to the problems he was trying to solve. This also helps to create a loyal customer base of people who feel good about buying them. While he's excited for the future, he says he would also be happy if he went out of business tomorrow. Ultimately, he hopes that one day people won't need to rally around his flags. But until then, he'll keep promoting those causes he believes in. Well, here is a fun flag fact for you. This is something I think I knew years ago,

but I had totally forgotten about. There is only one flag in the world that does not have four sides, at least one country flag. So out of all the countries in the world, 193 plus various territories and such, there's only one flag that doesn't have four sides. Now this flag belongs to Nepal, and it's a red flag with blue borders. It's kind of adorned with a white sun and moon, but it's shaped like two pennants stacked on top of each other. And if you're not sure what that

looks like, just Google "flag of Nepal" or Nepalese flag, and you'll see what I mean. Congratulations, Michael. Thanks for letting us feature Flags for Good. I look forward to hearing what develops next. And listeners, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. I just realized I don't have my own flag. Why have I not made my own flag before? Okay,

we're going to make our flag. I'll send a note to Michael. But for now, to find the show notes for today's episode, just go to sidehustleschool.com/1403. We'll have links to Flags for Good along with anything else mentioned in the episode. All right, that's all for today. I hope you'll

join me again tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School."