A LOOK INTO GEEK’S HERITAGE
By Cierra Morgan
Tamara Dokic, Ksenija Stokuca and Neal Amarnani were talking about Trojan football at a campus coffee shop when they were struck with the idea to create a unique USC game-day clothing brand. A few months later, these USC students began their journey as small business owners with Geek's Heritage. Quickly, their brand became popular for creating USC-targeted game day merchandise, most notably their “Kiss Me I’m a Trojan” baby tees and Trojan trucker hats.
The students came up with the name Geek's Heritage as a way to revert the negative connotations of students being outsiders through the word “geek.” They wanted to celebrate the idea of being different as they are international and first generation students. With their unique background, the group of students decided to combine “geek” and “heritage” to commemorate all their identities.
The brand quickly gained popularity among students after their first collection was launched during the fall 2022 game-day season. Despite the brand's popularity, this was the first time Dokic, Stokuca and Amarnani had run their own business, resulting in newfound struggles revolving around starting, gaining a consumer market and earning a profit.
"It was tough starting a new business being a student not yet having experience in the field before. It was important for us to create a structured plan on what we wanted our business to be, and how we were going to accomplish it, to help us navigate what was unknown,” said Stokuca, a junior studying Neuroscience and Marketing.
Dokic, Stokuca and Amarnani devised a business plan targeting their USC community, specifically creating clothing for students to wear on game days. Through this, they could secure a consumer market before they even began production, which offered a solution to the unstable consumer market that small businesses face.
The owners of Geek's Heritage used social media to their advantage when marketing their brand to USC students. They created an Instagram account and had photo shoots with friends to help promote the release of their products. Once launched, they used on-campus pop-ups as a new form of marketing.
Dokic, Stokuca and Amarnani were strategic in developing their business model as they launched their company on a college campus where the students want unique college merchandise, mentioned Dokic, a junior also studying Neuroscience and Marketing.
However, more problems arose for the group when they faced the financial start-up portion of running a business.
"The main thing we had to figure out when starting up Geek's is how to produce the shirts that are quality material and allow us to make a profit," said Stokuca.
After a lot of research, the student owners decided to use producer companies that were popular among other student organizations such as on campus clubs, sports teams and greek life. This way, Dokic, Stokuca and Amarnani were able to have peace of mind that their producer had experience making quality clothing for similar organizations at USC.
On the larger scale, the leading challenge of setting up Geek's Heritage as a legitimate business was the financial aspect. Younger entrepreneurs are less likely to be taught how to financially operate a business, leaving them to figure it out independently, according to Amarnani, a junior studying Communications.
"For all three of us, this is the first time that we have had to register an LLC and trademark our goods, so there is a lot of learning involved to figure out all of the financial and legal details," said Amarnani.
In the future, to combat small business struggles, the Geek's Heritage team hopes to get their LLC and trademark in place, as well as create an official website in addition to their Instagram account for expansion of their business across the USC community and beyond.
"Knowing that risk is a component of any successful business inspired me to get over my fears," said Dokic when discussing what motivated her to push through their struggles.
We look forward to what's to come next for Geek’s Heritage during current and upcoming football seasons!
You can find Geek's Heritage at @Geek'sheritage on instagram and purchase your own merch now.
The students came up with the name Geek's Heritage as a way to revert the negative connotations of students being outsiders through the word “geek.” They wanted to celebrate the idea of being different as they are international and first generation students. With their unique background, the group of students decided to combine “geek” and “heritage” to commemorate all their identities.
The brand quickly gained popularity among students after their first collection was launched during the fall 2022 game-day season. Despite the brand's popularity, this was the first time Dokic, Stokuca and Amarnani had run their own business, resulting in newfound struggles revolving around starting, gaining a consumer market and earning a profit.
"It was tough starting a new business being a student not yet having experience in the field before. It was important for us to create a structured plan on what we wanted our business to be, and how we were going to accomplish it, to help us navigate what was unknown,” said Stokuca, a junior studying Neuroscience and Marketing.
Dokic, Stokuca and Amarnani devised a business plan targeting their USC community, specifically creating clothing for students to wear on game days. Through this, they could secure a consumer market before they even began production, which offered a solution to the unstable consumer market that small businesses face.
The owners of Geek's Heritage used social media to their advantage when marketing their brand to USC students. They created an Instagram account and had photo shoots with friends to help promote the release of their products. Once launched, they used on-campus pop-ups as a new form of marketing.
Dokic, Stokuca and Amarnani were strategic in developing their business model as they launched their company on a college campus where the students want unique college merchandise, mentioned Dokic, a junior also studying Neuroscience and Marketing.
However, more problems arose for the group when they faced the financial start-up portion of running a business.
"The main thing we had to figure out when starting up Geek's is how to produce the shirts that are quality material and allow us to make a profit," said Stokuca.
After a lot of research, the student owners decided to use producer companies that were popular among other student organizations such as on campus clubs, sports teams and greek life. This way, Dokic, Stokuca and Amarnani were able to have peace of mind that their producer had experience making quality clothing for similar organizations at USC.
On the larger scale, the leading challenge of setting up Geek's Heritage as a legitimate business was the financial aspect. Younger entrepreneurs are less likely to be taught how to financially operate a business, leaving them to figure it out independently, according to Amarnani, a junior studying Communications.
"For all three of us, this is the first time that we have had to register an LLC and trademark our goods, so there is a lot of learning involved to figure out all of the financial and legal details," said Amarnani.
In the future, to combat small business struggles, the Geek's Heritage team hopes to get their LLC and trademark in place, as well as create an official website in addition to their Instagram account for expansion of their business across the USC community and beyond.
"Knowing that risk is a component of any successful business inspired me to get over my fears," said Dokic when discussing what motivated her to push through their struggles.
We look forward to what's to come next for Geek’s Heritage during current and upcoming football seasons!
You can find Geek's Heritage at @Geek'sheritage on instagram and purchase your own merch now.