I had the pleasure of interviewing Johnny Beig, CEO/Co-Founder of Dioz Group/Alanic Activewear.
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I’ve always had the desire to be in business. Excellence and high aspirations have always driven me to do more. To work for myself and set big targets and goals was always something I strived for even as a young kid. I was a Semi Pro in Sports (unfortunately not a PRO), and it was in my late teens I decided that I wanted to combine my love for sports with my passion of business. My first step toward this goal was when my brother and I opened an indoor sports facility in a sporting mad city of Melbourne, Australia. The facility was a success and soon the opportunity of working with apparel was to reveal itself. Weeks after opening our doors we were getting inundated with inquiries from teams using our facilities for training and sporting apparel. And…as they say the rest is history.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your company?
The one that stands out the most has been watching some of the events we partner with. Witnessing people overcome all odds and obstacles to complete a marathon, they train so hard for. We are talking about people with disability, people with prosthetic limbs, people with real challenges. Upon watching these people push through the pain and to achieve their goal crossing that finish line. It is one of the greatest rewards for me of being in this industry. It makes me so proud to see what can be achieved with a determined and laser focused mindset. To have some tiny role to play in that makes me proud and inspire me to do even more.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Like most young entrepreneurs who become relatively successful early in their careers I made the same mistake to become a little careless. With the early success – we thought the best thing to do was to expand as fast and as aggressively as possible. We were young and we were hungry to take on the world. Within the first 12 months of creating alanic we opened offices in every main city in Australia alongside launching operations in the US with offices in Los Angeles and Chicago. The expansion was rapid and aggressive. With this rapid growth you have to expect some mistakes to be made along the way. For us we began to notice that our key values were not being reflected across our growth areas so we ended up closing some of the offices in smaller states and made sure all the core work was performed from our Headquarters in Beverly Hills, CA, and Gold Coast, Australia.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
I would say my brother Tony Beig and I make our company stand out and makes it unique. We are obsessed with what we do and we are constantly pushing each other to reach new boundaries. It’s our ability to deal with people and understanding human psychology that has been the decisive factor.
We have a strong IT Team of about 30 individuals, who help us in many aspects of the business, and the most important one is dominating the SEO Market with over 300-400 people calling us every day and making inquiries about our products/services by searching us online on google and other search engines.
We also pride ourselves on adding value to every facet of our customer experience. We strive to provide more than the world’s best performance athletic apparel. We try to make a positive experience and memory every time we engage with a customer, whether it is through our apparel, or just simply answering a question over the phone.
I believe people are very savvy now. They want transparency, they want honesty and integrity. These are our core values and I believe these values have led to our impressive client retention rate.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Be obsessed with what you do. It’s all about working smarter…and not always necessarily harder. I always encourage my team to focus their energy towards things which will give the best outcome for them. If the end result is a win, you will want it more, you will love chasing it…and it will not seem like you are working at all. As you will learn to love it.
We also believe in building relationship, with our customer. Making them feel like they are part of the alanic family and that we are here for them if they ever need us.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
For me it would unquestionably have to be my Brother. We are partners, and he has always been very positive strength for me, and my backbone.
We work very differently, but it compliments each other as he is more aggressive and I am more the calculated risk taker. Sometimes we have different opinions on different matters, but we try to listen to each other, and meet each other half way, resulting in a positive outcome for the business.
Also, My Father and Mother always encouraged us to follow our dreams, be fearless and to never die wondering. They are some of the strongest people I know along with some close family and friends who have always supported us and wished for our success.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I would like to think so. But I have plans to do A LOT more.
One thing I’m proud of is our decision to reach out to the Haiti hurricane. Our team took thousands of products over with them to offer to locals whose entire houses had been destroyed. Although only a minor contribution it gave the locals a sense of that they were not forgotten.
Our company also supports UNICEF’s water program, which contributes to providing clean water for people in Africa and India.
I beleive it’s our duty to contribute back to the society. God gives you the stregth, ability, and capaibility to be at a certain level. In return its our job, to use it towards betterment of others and making the world a better place.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Love what you do” and “How you do anything is how you do everything”.
My parents always told me that it’s the habit that makes the difference. Hence I never procrastinate and as a matter of fact this concept does not longer exist in my mind as I got rid of it years ago. This one thing has determined my success to reach my potential and eagerness to go even beyond.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started my company” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
- Dream Big, Set Goals, Work Hard and Be Passionate. You need to love what you do – If you love it – it won’t feel like you work a day in your life.
- Learn Mandarin (for my business it would be a huge advantage if I could speak fluent mandarin since I deal with over 100 Chinese workers).
- Surround yourself with likeminded people you can trust and learn and get inspired from, since you are average of 4 people you hang out with.
- No Time Wasters. (Have people within your organization who you value)
- It’s not EASY, but then again, if it was easy, everybody would be doing it.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I’m passionate about creating a more active planet. I believe when people are up and about, moving their bodies. They are healthier, they feel better and they have a better outlook on life.
My Goal with Alanic is to motivate the world to want to get up and get moving, which is also our Motto: WHAT MOVES YOU.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Instagram: johnny_farhan
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!